She could, therefore, hope to get
in unseen, which was the first thing.
The spare bedroom--that assigned to the patient--was on the
ground-floor next to the dining-room; it communicated with the garden
by French windows, and by a small flight of steps.
Fanny walked cautiously along the road past the garden-gate; a rapid
glance assured her that no one was there; she hastily opened the gate
and slipped in. She knew that the windows of the sick-room were closed
on the inner side, and the blinds were still down. The patient,
therefore, had not yet been disturbed or visited. The windows of the
dining-room were on the other side of the house. The woman therefore
slipped round to the back, where she found, as she expected, the door
wide open. In the hall she heard the voices of the doctor and Lord
Harry and the clicking of knives and forks. They were at breakfast.
One thing more--What should she say to Oxbye? What excuse should she
make for coming back? How should she persuade him to keep silence about
her presence? His passion suggested a plan and a reason. She had come
back, she would tell him, for love of him, to watch over him, unseen by
the doctor, to go away with him when he was strong enough to travel.
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