whole matter, from the weariness of
this contending--impressed, too, in spite of herself, with the
pertinence of some of the objections which had been made, but staunch
in her main purpose, she at last set forth to fetch Larry. As she
passed the Brays' house, a sickly surge of resentment rose from her
momentary general disaccord with the world, and beat against the
windows that were Judith's, for it had been she who indirectly
precipitated this adoption: without her and the indefinable pollution
of her caresses, all being allowed to come to its ripeness naturally,
there would not have been this effect of strain and muffled discord in
bringing home the son-elect. Judith's windows were shuttered; her gay,
long-fringed hammocks taken in. Celia had heard that she was gone
unexpectedly early this year.

But why--why were the windows of the grey farm-house closed and
shuttered too? What could be the meaning of that? Celia could hardly
believe her eyes. Never once had she seen them closed. And the
door was closed, and the garden empty, and the clothes-line gone, the
oleander gone. She remained for a time without getting out of the
carriage, staring in puzzlement over at the house. It was like
something in a dream. When she got out, she found that her knees
were unsteady, and wondered at it, because she as yet felt little
but a futile effort of the brain to find some common explanation
of these circumstances, which only superficially, of course, seemed
so unnatural. Why should not Julia for once in her life have gone on a
visit, or a jaunt, or an errand? It was a long knowledge of all the
conditions which made this surmise insufficient. Celia fumbled
with a shutter and got it open. She made blinders with her hands and
peered in. Then her heart sank away, as if one should suddenly find
by the touch that a person one supposed alive was dead. It was a house
from which the inmates plainly had moved away. She made the circuit
of the house, examining things. All told the same story, no
possibility of deceiving oneself. They had gone. Celia went to the
gate and seated herself upon a stone facing the house, and stared at
it. She felt no pain. Indeed, something said within her, in the tone
she took discussing things sometimes, when she was drawing from a
worldly philosophy: "Well, it simplifies matters." The solution first
to present itself satisfied her. The same who had placed Larry there
had come for him. Perhaps they had got wind