Whatever it was, it impelled him to
submit to her demand.
"I'll come," he said uneasily. "I don't see any use in it, though. We
can say goodby now."
"No!" she exclaimed. "It must be to-night."
"All right, then. I'll come at ten,--_the back way_."
Without another word she hurried him through the intervening rooms to
the servants' entrance. They passed Brooks in the rear hall. He bowed
stiffly to Braddock. Brooks had been listening at a keyhole.
She opened the door and pointed the way with a trembling hand.
"There is the alley, Tom,--through the little gate. Be very careful."
He did not respond. Turning his face away resolutely, he stalked down
the narrow steps, and, without so much as a glance behind, hurried off
toward the alley-gate. She watched him pass through it, a strange
cramp of disappointment in her heart because he had resisted the
temptation to look back at his judge. How long she stood there stark
and silent she did not know.
Brooks, the footman, was speaking to her.
"Miss Christine is ill, ma'am," he said, from somewhere behind her.
"The housekeeper thinks she has fainted, ma'am.
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