Page 191 (1/1)
'A porter at the station He was a curious nervous o home Your sister was kind to hione, he went on with his work, shifting luggage-vans
Well, he got in the way, as if he were quite lost to as going on, and they sent him home at last Then he wished to seeon his mind, he said, and told it About the tiot under, whilst he was by himself in the porter's room, almost asleep, somebody came to the station and tried to open the door He went out and found the person to be the lady he had acco, Mrs Manston She asked, ould be another train to London? The first the next , he told her, was at a quarter-past six o'clock from Budmouth, but that it was express, and didn't stop at Carriford Road--it didn't stop till it got to Anglebury "How far is it to Anglebury?" she said
He told her, and she thanked him, and went away up the line In a short time she ran back and took out her purse "Don't on any account say a word in the village or anywhere that I have been here, or a single breath about me--I'm ashans "Swear it on the Testa-rooot the book, took an oath upon it, received the money, and she left him He was off duty at half-past five He has kept silence all through the intervening tihed heavily upon his conscience and weak -day, the e filled him with remorse He says your sister's kindness afterwards was like a knife going through his heart He thought he had ruined her' 'But whatever can be done? Why didn't he speak sooner?' cried Owen
'He actually called at my house twice yesterday,' the rector continued, 'resolved, it seems, to unburden his e, and, they say, he looked relieved that his object was defeated Then he says he resolved to coht--started, reached the door, and dreaded to knock--and then went hoers of the county,' said Owen bitterly 'The idea of his not opening his !' 'Ah, that's the inconsistency of a weak nature But now that it is put to us in this way, how much more probable it seems that she should have escaped than have been burnt--' 'You will, of course, go straight to Mr Manston, and ask him what it all means?' Edward interrupted