"Not much. He saw me staring at him, I suppose, and stopped and asked me
if I belonged to the Hold. I answered, no; I did not belong to it; I was
Miss Dickson, of Trevlyn Farm. And then it was his turn to stare at me.
'I think I should have known you,' he said. 'At least, I do now that I
have the clue. You are not much altered. Should you have known me?' 'I
don't know you now,' I answered: 'unless you are old Squire Trevlyn come
out of his grave. I never saw such a likeness.'"
"And what did he say?" eagerly asked Mrs. Chattaway.
"Nothing more. He laughed a little at my speech, and went on. Madam
Chattaway, will you open the note, please, and see if there's any
answer. Mr. George said it was important."
She opened the note, which had lain unheeded in her hand, and read as
follows:
"Do not attempt further visits. Suspicions are abroad.
"G. B. R."
She had just attempted one, and paid it. Had it been watched? A rush of
fear bounded within her for Rupert's sake.
"There's no answer, Nora," said Mrs. Chattaway: and she turned
homewards, as one in a dream. Who _was_ that man before her? What was
his name? where did he come from? Why should he bear this strange
likeness to her dead father? Ah, why, indeed! The truth never for one
moment entered the mind of Mrs. Chattaway.
He went on: he, the stranger. When he came to the lawn before the house,
he stepped on to it and halted. He looked to this side, he looked to
that; he gazed up at the house; just as one loves to look on returning
to a beloved home after an absence of years. He stood with his head
thrown back; his right hand stretched out, the stick it grasped planted
firm and upright on the ground. How many times had old Squire Trevlyn
stood in the selfsame attitude on that same lawn!
There appeared to be no one about; no one saw him, save Mrs. Chattaway,
who hid herself amidst the trees, and furtively watched him. She would
not have passed him for the world, and she waited until he should be
gone. She was unable to divest her mind of a sensation akin to the
supernatural, as she shrank from this man who bore so wonderful a
resemblance to her father. He, the stranger, did not detect her behind
him, and presently he walked across the lawn, ascended the steps, and
tried the door.
But the door was fastened. The servants would sometimes slip the bolt as
a protection against tramps, and they had probably done so to-day.
Seizing the bell-handle, the visitor rang such a peal that Sam Atkins,
Cris Chattaway's groom, who happened to be in the house and near the
door, flew with all speed to open it. Sam had never known Squire
Trevlyn; but in this stranger now before him, he could not fail to
remark a great general resemblance to the Trevlyn family.
"Is James Chattaway at home?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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