Ten minutes afterwards the door of Barnet’s house opened, and a tall closely-veiled lady in a travelling-dress came out and descended the freestone steps.  The servant stood in the doorway watching her as she went with a measured tread down the street.  When she had been out of sight for some minutes Barnet appeared at the door from within.

‘Did your mistress leave word where she was going?’ he asked.

‘No, sir.’

‘Is the carriage ordered to meet her anywhere?’

‘No, sir.’

‘Did she take a latch-key?’

‘No, sir.’

Barnet went in again, sat down in his chair, and leaned back.  Then in solitude and silence he brooded over the bitter emotions that filled his heart.  It was for this that he had gratuitously restored her to life, and made his union with another impossible!  The evening drew on, and nobody came to disturb him.  At bedtime he told the servants to retire, that he would sit up for Mrs. Barnet himself; and when they were gone he leaned his head upon his hand and mused for hours.

The clock struck one, two; still his wife came not, and, with impatience added to depression, he went from room to room till another weary hour had passed.  This was not altogether a new experience for Barnet; but she had never before so prolonged her absence.  At last he sat down again and fell asleep.

He awoke at six o’clock to find that she had not returned.  In searching about the rooms he discovered that she had taken a case of jewels which had been hers before her marriage.  At eight a note was brought him; it was from his wife, in which she stated that she had gone by the coach to the house of a distant relative near London, and expressed a wish that certain boxes, articles of clothing, and so on, might be sent to her forthwith.  The note was brought to him by a waiter at the Black-Bull Hotel, and had been written by Mrs. Barnet immediately before she took her place in the stage.

By the evening this order was carried out, and Barnet, with a sense of relief, walked out into the town.  A fair had been held during the day, and the large clear moon which rose over the most prominent hill flung its light upon the booths and standings that still remained in the street, mixing its rays curiously with those from the flaring naphtha lamps.  The town was full of country-people who had come in to enjoy themselves, and on this account Barnet strolled through the streets unobserved.  With a certain recklessness he made for the harbour-road, and presently found himself by the shore, where he walked on till he came to the spot near which his friend the kindly Mrs. Downe had lost her life, and his own wife’s life had been preserved.  A tremulous pathway of bright moonshine now stretched over the water which had engulfed them, and not a living soul was near.