er trouble.

The gravity with which he made this request awakened disquiet in her
mind, which diminished as her proximity to Melkbridge increased.
Impatient to lessen the distance that separated her from her
destination, she quickly selected a fly. A porter helped the driver
with her luggage; she settled herself with her baby and Jill, and very
soon they were lumbering down the ill-paved street. Her mind was so
intent on the fact of her increasing nearness to the loved one, that
she gave but a passing remembrance to the occasion of her last visit to
Dippenham, when she had met Perigal after letting him know that she was
about to become a mother. Her eyes strained eagerly from the window of
the fly in the direction of Melkbridge. She was blind, deaf,
indifferent to anything, other than her approaching meeting with her
lover, which she was sure could not long be delayed now she had come to
live so near his home. She was to lodge with her old friend Mrs
Trivett, who had moved into a cottage on the Broughton Road.

Mavis had written to tell Mrs Trivett the old story of her fictitious
marriage; she had, also, stated that for the present she wished this
fact, together with the parentage of her child, to be kept a strict
secret. Mavis little recked the risk she ran of discovery. She was
obsessed by the desire to breathe the Melkbridge air. She believed that
her presence there would in some way or other make straight the tangle
into which she had got her life. The fly had left Dippenham well
behind, and was ambling up and down the inclines of the road. Mavis
looked out at the stone walls which, in these parts, take the place of
hedgerows: she recognised with delight this reminder that she was again
in Wiltshire. Four miles further, she would pass a lodge gate and the
grounds of Major Perigal's place. She might even catch a glimpse of the
house amongst the trees as she passed. As the miles were wearily
surmounted and the dwelling of the loved one came ever nearer, Mavis's
heart beat fast with excitement. She continually craned her neck from
the window to see if the spot she longed to feast her eyes upon were in
sight. When it ultimately crept into view, she could scarcely contain
herself for joy. She caught up her baby from the seat to hold him as
high as it was possible in order that he might catch a glimpse of his
darling daddy's home.

The baby arms were hot and dry to the touch, but Mavis was too intent
on looking eagerly