The doctor was wrong. Fanny Mere did return, though he did not discover
the fact.
She went away in a state of mind which is dangerous when it possesses a
woman of determination. The feminine mind loves to understand motives
and intentions; it hates to be puzzled. Fanny was puzzled. Fanny could
not understand what had been intended and what was now meant. For,
first, a man, apparently dying, had been brought into the house--why?
Then the man began slowly to recover, and the doctor, whose attentions
had always been of the most slender character, grew more morose every
day. Then he suddenly, on the very day when he sent her away, became
cheerful, congratulated the patient on his prospect of recovery, and
assisted in getting him out of bed for a change. The cook having been
sent away, there was now no one in the house but the Dane, the doctor,
and Lord Harry.
Man hunts wild creatures; woman hunts man. Fanny was impelled by the
hunting instinct. She was sent out of the house to prevent her hunting;
she began to consider next, how, without discovery, she could return
and carry on the hunt.
Everything conspired to drive her back: the mystery of the thing; the
desire to baffle, or at least to discover, a dark design; the wish to
be of service to her mistress; and the hope of finding out something
which would keep Iris from going back to her husband. Fanny was unable
to comprehend the depth of her mistress's affection for Lord Harry; but
that she was foolishly, weakly in love with him, and that she would
certainly return to him unless plain proofs of real villainy were
prepared--so much Fanny understood very well. When the omnibus set her
down, she found a quiet hotel near the terminus for Dieppe. She spent
the day walking about--to see the shops and streets, she would have
explained; to consider the situation, she should have explained. She
bought a new dress, a new hat, and a thick veil, so as to be disguised
at a distance. As for escaping the doctor's acuteness by any disguise
should he meet her face to face, that was impossible. But her mind was
made up--she would run any risk, meet any danger, in order to discover
the meaning of all this.
Next morning she returned by an omnibus service which would allow her
to reach the cottage at about a quarter-past eleven. She chose this
time for two reasons: first, because breakfast was sent in from the
restaurant at eleven, and the two gentlemen would certainly be in the
salle 'a manger over that meal; and, next, because the doctor always
visited his patient after breakfast. She could, therefore, hope to get
in unseen, which was the first thing.