All was quiet in the tiny hamlet as she went along the road. A blaze
of light shone from the tap-room window where the fathers of families
were talking together, and within Mr. Nugent's shuttered shop she
could see through the doorway the grocer himself in his shirt-sleeves,
shifting something on the counter. So great was the tension to which
she had strung herself that she did not even envy the ordinariness of
these people: they appeared to be in some other world, not attainable
by herself. These were busied with domestic affairs, with beer or
cheese or gossip. Her task was of another kind: so much she knew; and
as to what that task was, she was about to learn.
As she turned the corner, the figure she expected was waiting there;
and she could see in the deep twilight that he lifted his hat to
her. She went straight up to him.
"Yes," she said, "I have seen for myself. You are right so far. Now
tell me what to do."
It was no time for conventionality. She did not ask why the solicitor
was there. It was enough that he had come.
"Walk this way then with me," he said. "Now tell me what you have
seen."
"I have seen a change I cannot describe at all. It's just someone
else--not Laurie at all.
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