Blind Love

The doctor was wrong. Fanny Mere did return, though he did not discover

the fact.

She went away in a state of mind which is dangerous when it possesses a

woman of determination. The feminine mind loves to understand motives

and intentions; it hates to be puzzled. Fanny was puzzled. Fanny could

not understand what had been intended and what was now meant. For,

first, a man, apparently dying, had been brought into the house--why?

Then the man began slowly to recover, and the doctor, whose attentions

had always been of the most slender character, grew more morose every

day. Then he suddenly, on the very day when he sent her away, became

cheerful, congratulated the patient on his prospect of recovery, and

assisted in getting him out of bed for a change. The cook having been

sent away, there was now no one in the house but the Dane, the doctor,

and Lord Harry.

Man hunts wild creatures; woman hunts man. Fanny was impelled by the

hunting instinct. She was sent out of the house to prevent her hunting;

she began to consider next, how, without discovery, she could return

and carry on the hunt.

Everything conspired to drive her back: the mystery of the thing; the

desire to baffle, or at least to discover, a dark design; the wish to

be of service to her mistress; and the hope of finding out something

which would keep Iris from going back to her husband. Fanny was unable

to comprehend the depth of her mistress's affection for Lord Harry; but

that she was foolishly, weakly in love with him, and that she would

certainly return to him unless plain proofs of real villainy were

prepared--so much Fanny understood very well. When the omnibus set her

down, she found a quiet hotel near the terminus for Dieppe. She spent

the day walking about--to see the shops and streets, she would have

explained; to consider the situation, she should have explained. She

bought a new dress, a new hat, and a thick veil, so as to be disguised

at a distance. As for escaping the doctor's acuteness by any disguise

should he meet her face to face, that was impossible. But her mind was

made up--she would run any risk, meet any danger, in order to discover

the meaning of all this.

Next morning she returned by an omnibus service which would allow her

to reach the cottage at about a quarter-past eleven. She chose this

time for two reasons: first, because breakfast was sent in from the

restaurant at eleven, and the two gentlemen would certainly be in the

salle 'a manger over that meal; and, next, because the doctor always

visited his patient after breakfast. She could, therefore, hope to get

in unseen, which was the first thing.