Every minute lost is
of consequence. What!" he cried a moment later. "You won't go? You'll
stay here--stay here and face them? Good Heavens! girl, are you mad?
Don't you know what this means? It means that the secret is out--the
secret is out, you hear! We must fly!"
The woman told me that she distinctly heard Miss Muriel sobbing, while
her father walked up and down the room speaking rapidly in a low tone.
Then he came out again and returned to his dressing-room, while Miss
Muriel presumably changed from her evening-gown into a dark
traveling-dress.
"Did she say anything to you?" I inquired.
"Only that they were called away suddenly, sir. But," the domestic
added, "the young lady was very pale and agitated, and we all knew that
something terrible had happened. Mrs. Leithcourt gave orders that
nothing was to be told to the guests, who dined alone, believing that
their host and hostess had gone down to the village to see an old man
who was dying. That was the story we told them, sir."
"And in the meantime the Leithcourts were in the express going to
Carlisle?"
"Yes, sir.
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