h.

The little street was as quiet as ever; Rachel stood quite still, and
for the moment she was the only person in it. She stole up to the house.
The blinds were down, and it was in darkness, otherwise all was as she
remembered it only too well. Her breath came quickly. It was a strange
trick her feet had played her, bringing her here against her will! Yet
she had thought of coming as a last resort. The furnished house should
be hers for some months yet; it had been taken for six months from July,
and this was only the end of November. At the worst--if no one would
take her in--

She shuddered at the unfinished thought; and yet there was something in
it that appealed to Rachel. To go back there, if only for the shortest
time--to show her face openly where it was known--not to slink and hide
as though she were really guilty! That might give her back her
self-respect; that might make others respect her too. But could she do
it, even if she would? Could she bring herself to set foot inside that
house again?

Rachel felt tremulously in her pocket; there had been more keys than
one, and that which had been in her possession when she was arrested
was in it still. Nobody had asked her for it; she had kept it for this;
dare she use it after all? The street was still empty; it is the
quietest little street in Chelsea. There would never be a better chance.

Rachel crept up the steps. If she should be seen!

She was not; but a footstep rang somewhere in the night, and on that the
key was fitted and the door opened without another moment's hesitation.
Rachel entered, the door shut noisily behind her, and then her own step
rang in turn upon the floor. It was bare boards; and as Rachel felt her
way to the electric switches, beyond the dining-room door, her fingers
missed the pictures on the walls. This prepared her for what she found
when the white light sprang out above her head. The house had been
dismantled; not a stick in the rooms, not so much as a stair-rod on the
stairs, nor a blind to the window at their head.

The furniture removed while the use of it belonged legally to her! Had
they made so sure of her conviction as all that? Rachel's blood came
straight from zero to the boil; this was monstrous, this was illegal and
wicked. The house was hers for other two months; and there were things
of hers in it, she had left everything behind her. If they had been
removed, then this outrage was little short of felony, and she