Charmond.
He accordingly retreated as silently as he had come. Passing the
door of the drawing-room anew, he fancied that he heard a noise
within which was not the crackling of the fire. Melbury gently
reopened the door to a distance of a few inches, and saw at the
opposite window two figures in the act of stepping out--a man and
a woman--in whom he recognized the lady of the house and his son-
in-law. In a moment they had disappeared amid the gloom of the
lawn.
He returned into the hall, and let himself out by the carriage-
entrance door, coming round to the lawn front in time to see the
two figures parting at the railing which divided the precincts of
the house from the open park. Mrs. Charmond turned to hasten back
immediately that Fitzpiers had left her side, and he was speedily
absorbed into the duskiness of the trees.
Melbury waited till Mrs. Charmond had re-entered the drawing-room,
and then followed after Fitzpiers, thinking that he would allow
the latter to mount and ride ahead a little way before overtaking
him and giving him a piece of his mind.
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