Page:Restless Earth.djvu/214

She had not expected Harley so soon. Nor had she expected him to arrive unannounced. She had hoped for time to depart before he came; and now———!

With a hurried movement she threw aside the clothes and sprang out of bed, her instinctive intention being to escape by the back door before Harley entered at the front.

Then she remembered his habit of entering by the back door. She paused, sitting on the edge of her bed, thinking furiously. If she went out by the front door he would see her as he came up the path. Better to wait until she knew by which door he would enter.

She had no time to dress.

Her kimono hung from the head of the bed. She found it in the darkness and donned it hastily. She dragged her suitcase from beneath the bed—the sole piece of luggage which she had brought back. It bumped against a leg of the bed noisily. She became still for a moment, then crossed the room and leaned over Grace, who was faintly discernible in the dim light from the open window.

Grace slept peacefully, one hand touching her bandaged face as though she were still conscious of pain.

Moving noiselessly and swiftly, Patricia gathered her belongings from the wardrobe and from the dressing-table, her fingers searching hurriedly that she might not miss anything. She bundled the things into the suitcase and closed it, trembling and unable to avoid making a loud click with the lock.

James Harley still talked at the gate. She heard him say good-bye.

Crossing again to Grace, she stooped swiftly and kissed the blind woman gently upon her scarred lips; then, picking up the suitcase, she hurried silently into the hall. Her hat and coat hung from hooks near the door. She found them and held them in her hand.