The feeling she had
imparted to Helena on the night of their first confidence, was so
strong upon her--the feeling of not being safe from him, and of the
solid walls of the old convent being powerless to keep out his
ghostly following of her--that no reasoning of her own could calm
her terrors. The fascination of repulsion had been upon her so
long, and now culminated so darkly, that she felt as if he had
power to bind her by a spell. Glancing out at window, even now, as
she rose to dress, the sight of the sun-dial on which he had leaned
when he declared himself, turned her cold, and made her shrink from
it, as though he had invested it with some awful quality from his
own nature.
She wrote a hurried note to Miss Twinkleton, saying that she had
sudden reason for wishing to see her guardian promptly, and had
gone to him; also, entreating the good lady not to be uneasy, for
all was well with her. She hurried a few quite useless articles
into a very little bag, left the note in a conspicuous place, and
went out, softly closing the gate after her.
It was the first time she had ever been even in Cloisterham High
Street alone. But knowing all its ways and windings very well, she
hurried straight to the corner from which the omnibus departed. It
was, at that very moment, going off.
'Stop and take me, if you please, Joe. I am obliged to go to
London.'
In less than another minute she was on her road to the railway,
under Joe's protection.
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