round, saw a woman looking at her from the road,--a woman all in
purple even to the veil which hid her features. A little child was
with her, and the two must have stepped into the road from behind
some of the bushes, as neither of them were anywhere in sight when
she herself came running down from the corner.

It was enough to startle any one, especially as the woman did not
speak but just stood silent and watchful till Miss Weeks in her
embarrassment began to edge away towards home in the hope that the
other would follow her example and so leave the place free for her
to return and take the little peep she had promised herself.

But before she had gone far, she realised that the other was not
following her, but was still standing in the same spot, watching
her through a veil the like of which is not to be found in Shelby,
and which in itself was enough to rouse a decent woman's
suspicions.

She was so amazed at this that she stepped back and attempted to
address the stranger. But before she had got much further than a
timid and hesitating Madam, the woman, roused into action possibly
by her interference, made a quick gesture suggestive of impatience
if not rebuke, and moving resolutely towards the gate Miss Weeks
had so indiscreetly left unguarded, pushed it open and disappeared
within, dragging the little child after her.

The audacity of this act, perpetrated without apology before Miss
Weeks' very eyes, was too much for that lady's equanimity. She
stopped stock-still, and, as she did so, beheld the gate swing
heavily to and stop an inch from the post, hindered as we know by