, and where he had
never been before.

"Sue's gone from me--gone!" he murmured miserably.

She in the meantime had left by the train, and reached Alfredston
Road, where she entered the steam-tram and was conveyed into the
town. It had been her request to Phillotson that he should not meet
her. She wished, she said, to come to him voluntarily, to his very
house and hearthstone.

It was Friday evening, which had been chosen because the schoolmaster
was disengaged at four o'clock that day till the Monday morning
following. The little car she hired at the Bear to drive her to
Marygreen set her down at the end of the lane, half a mile from the
village, by her desire, and preceded her to the schoolhouse with
such portion of her luggage as she had brought. On its return she
encountered it, and asked the driver if he had found the master's
house open. The man informed her that he had, and that her things
had been taken in by the schoolmaster himself.

She could now enter Marygreen without exciting much observation.
She crossed by the well and under the trees to the pretty new school
on the other side, and lifted the latch of the dwelling without
knocking. Phillotson stood in the middle of the room, awaiting her,
as requested.

"I've come, Richard," said she, looking pale and shaken, and sinking
into a chair. "I cannot believe--you forgive your--wife!"

"Everything, darling Susanna," said Phillotson.

She started at the endearment, though it had been spoken advisedly
without fervour. Then she nerved herself again.

"My children--are dead--and it is right that they should be! I am
glad--almost. They were sin-begotten. They were sacrificed to teach
me how to live! Their death was the first stage of my purification.
That's why they have not died in vain! ... You will take me back?"

He was so stirred by her pitiful words and tone that he did more than
he had meant to do. He bent and kissed her cheek.

Sue imperceptibly shrank away, her flesh quivering under the touch of
his lips.

Phillotson's heart sank, for desire was renascent in him. "You still
have an aversion to me!"

"Oh no, dear--I have been driving through the damp, and I was
chilly!" she said, with a hurried smile of apprehension. "When are
we going to have the marriage? Soon?"

"To-morrow morning, early, I thought--if you really wish. I am
sending round to the vicar to let him know you are come. I have told
him all, and he highly appr