But she wanted to
read her letter again, and think it all over in peace; and so, at an
early hour, she wished Miss Monro good-night, and went up into her own
room above the drawing-room, and overlooking the flower-garden and
shrubbery-path to the stable-yard, by which her father was sure to
return. She went upstairs and studied her letter well, and tried to
recall all her speeches and conduct on that miserable evening--as she
thought it then--not knowing what true misery was. Her head ached, and
she put out the candle, and went and sat on the window-seat, looking out
into the moonlit garden, watching for her father. She opened the window;
partly to cool her forehead, partly to enable her to call down softly
when she should see him coming along. By-and-by the door from the stable-
yard into the shrubbery clicked and opened, and in a moment she saw Mr.
Wilkins moving through the bushes; but not alone, Mr. Dunster was with
him, and the two were talking together in rather excited tones,
immediately lost to hearing, however, as they entered Mr. Wilkins's study
by the outer door.
"They have been dining together somewhere. Probably at Mr. Hanbury's"
(the Hamley brewer), thought Ellinor. "But how provoking that he should
have come home with papa this night of all nights!"
Two or three times before Mr. Dunster had called on Mr.
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