Weary and overpowered, she accepted his offer, and with his assistance she climbed into they cart. They jogged along slowly, for the roads were heavy and clogged with mud. From time to time the man looked at her, surveying her quietly from head to foot, noting with no little surprise her delicate form, her small hands, her beautiful face. More than once he seemed about to question her, but refrained. To avoid meeting his inquisitive gaze, she closed her eyes, and presently, through sheer fatigue, she fell into a heavy doze. She was wakened by a hoarse voice in her ear:-- ‘Now, then, missis, here we be!’ She stirred, opened her eyes, and saw that they were standing near to a very small village, not far from a great water, the river or the sea. Shivering, and dazed, she alighted from the cart, and taking out a small purse offered the man a piece of silver. ‘Noa, keep your money, missis,’ he said, with a stern shake of his head. ‘Look, now, this be Seachester, and up there be the house where you’re a-going.’ He pointed as he spoke to a small cottage, like a lodge, standing surrounded by trees, at the gate of a kind of avenue. ‘The house?’ she echoed. ‘Do you mean where they will give me a night’s lodging?’ He looked at her with a curious expression, indicative of rural suspicion. ‘You’re like the rest on ’em, missis! You know well enough where you’re a-coming, but you won’t let on to know. Never mind, you ain’t the fust by many as has had a lift in my old cart. There, go up right through that gate, missis, and they’ll give you a night’s lodgings, never fear!’ So saying, with a grim nod, the countryman drove away, leaving the woman perplexed and even alarmed. What could he mean? Could he have any suspicion that she was a fugitive? She was too dazed and weak quite ta understand, or even heed his mysterious allusions. A sickening weight was on her heart, and though her hands and feet were stony cold, her frame was on fire. She stood tottering, as if about to faint. It was again afternoon, and the red sunlight fell on the little lodge and on the long avenue beyond, overshadowed with sere and yellow trees. The place seemed still and peaceful. She crept nearer, and presently stood with her face against the iron gate, looking in. As she stood thus, there came on her ear the sound of female voices; and she saw approaching down the avenue, a troop of about thirty women walking in couples, talking and laughing as they came along. They were plainly dressed, for the most part in plain stuff dresses and dark shawls, and each wore a tight-fitting bonnet of the same description. On they came, chattering like children. Most of them, even in their not too becoming costume, showed the signs of personal comeliness, and a few were really pretty. Suddenly they turned into a side path and disappeared. The sound of their voices died quietly away among the trees.