"Hello!" said he.

She said nothing. But the candle shook in her hand, and by the glassy
look of dull yet fierce surprise in her colorless eyes Max saw that this
woman, who had connived at his imprisonment in the room with the dead
man, had never expected to see him again--alive.




CHAPTER XV.

MR. WEDMORE'S SECOND FREAK.


Even if Max had not had such an ugly experience of the ways of Mrs.
Higgs, even if this meeting with her in the barn had been his first, his
sensations would hardly have been agreeable ones. There was something
uncanny about the old woman, something which her quiet, shuffling
movements and her apparent lack of interest in what went on around her
only served to accentuate. Even now, while suffering the shock of a
great surprise, Max could feel rather than see the effect which the
unexpected meeting had upon her.

For she uttered no cry, no word; her eyes scarcely opened wider than
before. Her jaw dropped a little, and then began to move rapidly up and
down; that was all. And yet, as Max looked at her--at this helpless,
infirm old creature with the palsied hands and the lackluster eyes--he
shivered.