"Stop!" thundered Dudley.

Carrie paused, with her hand on the door.

"Did Mrs. Higgs send you?"

"Yes."

"Then wait a minute."

All the indignation, all the defiance, had gone from his tone. He looked
anxious, haggard.

Carrie sat down like an automaton in the chair nearest to the door.

There was a silence of some minutes' duration when Carrie announced
herself as a messenger from Mrs. Higgs.

Dudley, who had either forgotten the presence of Max or was past caring
how much his friend learned, since he already knew so much, walked up
and down between the fireplace and the bookcase on the opposite wall,
evidently debating what he should do. Carrie never once raised her eyes
from the carpet, but sat like a statue beside the door, apparently as
indifferent as possible as to the message she should take back.

Max had risen from his seat and was standing where he could get a full
view of her over the lamp on the dinner-table between them. Perhaps it
was the yellow paper shade around the light which made the young girl's
face look so ghastly, or the rusty black clothes she wore. A plain
skirt, the same that she had worn when he saw her first, a black stuff