hour before Frank stirred. And then--instead of going away--he sank
down on his knees by the bedside, and buried his face in the clothes.
Little Ailsie stirred uneasily. Norah pulled him up in terror. She
could afford no more time, even for prayer, in her extremity of fear;
for surely the next moment would bring her mistress home. She took
him forcibly by the arm; but, as he was going, his eye lighted on the
other bed; he stopped. Intelligence came back into his face. His hands
clenched.

'His child?' he asked.

'Her child,' replied Norah. 'God watches over him,' she said
instinctively; for Frank's looks excited her fears, and she needed to
remind herself of the Protector of the helpless.

'God has not watched over me,' he said, in despair; his thoughts
apparently recoiling on his own desolate, deserted state. But Norah
had no time for pity. Tomorrow she would be as compassionate as her
heart prompted. At length she guided him downstairs, and shut the
outer door, and bolted it--as if by bolts to keep out facts.

Then she went back into the dining-room, and effaced all traces of his
presence, as far as she could. She went upstairs to the nursery and
sat there, her head on her hand, thinking what was to come of all
this misery. It seemed to her very long before her master and mistress
returned; yet it was hardly eleven o'clock. She heard the loud,
hearty Lancashire voices on the stairs; and, for the first time, she
understood the contrast of the desolation of the poor man who had so
lately gone forth in lonely despair.