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There was agitation to-day in the lives of all whom these matters

concerned It was not till the Hintock dinner-time--one o'clock--that

Grace discovered her father's absence fro under so and inquiry she was able to come to a conclusion on his

destination, and to divine his errand

Her husband was absent, and her father did not return He had, in

truth, gone on to Sherton after the interview, but this Grace did not

know In an indefinite dread that so serious would arise out of

Melbury's visit by reason of the inequalities of temper and nervous

irritation to which he was subject, so

her ative state of

mind, she left the house about three o'clock, and took a loitering walk

in the woodland track by which she iined he would come ho sticks, screened and

roofed in frohs, led her slowly on till in tier trees

behind her and swept round into the coppice where Winterborne and his

rowth

Had Giles's attention been concentrated on his hurdles he would not

have seen her; but ever since Melbury's passage across the opposite