The Woodlanders - Page 200/314

While she sat, or rather crouched, unhinged by the interview,

lunch-time came, and then the early afternoon, almost without her

consciousness. Then "a strange gentleman who says it is not necessary

to give his name," was suddenly announced.

"I cannot see him, whoever he may be. I am not at home to anybody."

She heard no more of her visitor; and shortly after, in an attempt to

recover some mental serenity by violent physical exercise, she put on

her hat and cloak and went out-of-doors, taking a path which led her up

the slopes to the nearest spur of the wood. She disliked the woods,

but they had the advantage of being a place in which she could walk

comparatively unobserved.