His they unquestionably were; and their forwarding by
the porter had been quite natural. She sighed and sat down again.
Presently she fell into a doze, and when she again became conscious she
found that the four candles had burnt into their sockets and gone out.
The fire still emitted a feeble shine. Christine did not take the
trouble to get more candles, but stirred the fire and sat on.
After a long period she heard a creaking of the chamber floor and stairs
at the other end of the house, and knew that the farmer's family were
getting up. By-and-by Mrs. Wake entered the room, candle in hand,
bouncing open the door in her morning manner, obviously without any
expectation of finding a person there.
'Lord-a-mercy! What, sitting here again, ma'am?'
'Yes, I am sitting here still.'
'You've been there ever since last night?'
'Yes.'
'Then--'
'He's not come.'
'Well, he won't come at this time o' morning,' said the farmer's wife.
'Do 'ee get on to bed, ma'am. You must be shrammed to death!'
It occurred to Christine now that possibly her husband had thought better
of obtruding himself upon her company within an hour of revealing his
existence to her, and had decided to pay a more formal visit next day.
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