As it chanced, she possessed very little money--scarcely more than
enough to take her to Paulmouth. There she would be no better off
than she was at Big Wreck Cove. Sheila was not, in truth, quite
accountable for her actions at this time. To get away from the Ball
house was her only really clear thought. What followed must fall as
fate directed.
At the first faint gleam of dawn in the sky, and as the distant
stars paled and disappeared, the girl crept down the stairs with
her bundle, her shoes in her hand, and went out by the kitchen door.
She heard only the deep breathing of the old captain from across the
sitting room and now and then the sobbing breath of Prudence, like
the breathing of a hurt child that has fallen asleep in pain and
half wakes to a realization of it.
As she turned to close the outer door softly behind her, the girl's
heart throbbed in response to the old woman's sorrow. While she sat
on the bench to lace her shoes the cat, old Tabby, came rubbing and
purring about her skirts. Muffled, as though from a great distance,
a rooster vented a questioning crow as though he doubted that it was
yet time to announce the birth of another day.
She went to the barn to feed Queenie for the last time.
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