it is blank and cool—‘Farewell.’ ”
“How long is he going to stand with his back against that door?” I asked myself; “I want to commence my packing.”
The dinner-bell rang, and suddenly away he bolted, without another syllable: I saw him no more during the day, and was off before he had risen in the morning.
I reached the lodge at Gateshead about five o’clock in the afternoon of the first of May: I stepped in there before going up to the hall.
It was very clean and neat:
- the ornamental windows were hung with little white curtains;
- the floor was spotless;
- the grate and fire-irons were burnished bright, and the fire burnt clear.
Bessie sat on the hearth, nursing her last-born, and Robert and his sister played quietly in a corner.
“Bless you!—I knew you would come!” exclaimed Mrs.