ndmother had been so preoccupied that she let the tail of her
shawl trail on the ground as she went upstairs that night, and why
Cousin Tom Stallybrass had not come in to tell how the calf had gone at
Prittlebay market. When one afternoon she came to the head of the stairs
and saw Aunt Alphonsine gesticulating in her tight _dame de compagnie_
black in the parlour below, stretching out her long lean neck like the
spout of a coffee-pot to Grandmothers' ear, she stood quite still,
staring at the two women and hating them till they saw her and fell
silent. She did not take her gaze from them until Aunt Alphonsine put up
her hand to cover her scar. Then she knew that this wretched woman was
at last afraid of her and would let her alone, and she turned
contentedly to the room where Richard was.

But later on a misgiving seized her lest her aunt might have come as
envoy from Peacey, and since she perceived that, her rage against the
world was so visibly written on her that she inspired fear; she thought
it best to give her boy into the charge of Peggy and to go over to
Torque Hall herself. She waited in the courtyard outside the servants'
quarters while they fetched him, and stood with her head high, so that
the faces peering at her from the windows should see nothing of her
torment, at the corner of the gardens that was visible through the
gracious Tudor archway. There was nothing showing save a few pale mauve
clots of Michaelmas daisies standing flank-high in the slanting dusty
shafts of evening sunshine, and the marble Triton, glowing gold in
answer to the sunset, with gold autumn leaves scattered on his pedestal.
But she knew very well how fair it all must be beyond, where she could
not see--the broad grass walk stretching between the wide, formal
flowerbeds, well tended but disordered with the lateness of the year, to
the sundial and the chestnut grove. How could Harry, who had loved her,
possess all this and not want to share it with her? She could have
sobbed like a child whose playmate is not kind, had not Peacey stood at
her elbow. "I want to give you warning that if ever you come near me
again I will kill you," she said. He looked sharply at her and she saw
that he was convinced and discomfited. But suddenly he smiled. She went
home, wondering uneasily why he should have smiled, but came to the
conclusion that this was simply one of his mystifications and that he
had simply been trying to cover his defeat. It was an e