The New Magdalen

She looked round. The gray cloak which she had lent to Grace attracted

her attention. She took it up, and covered herself with it from head to

foot.

The cloak was just arranged round her when she heard the outer door

thrust open, and voices speaking in a strange tongue, and arms grounded

in the room behind her. Should she wait to be discovered? or should she

show herself of her own accord? It was less trying to such a nature as

hers to show herself than to wait. She advanced to enter the kitchen.

The canvas curtain, as she stretched out her hand to it, was suddenly

drawn back from the other side, and three men confronted her in the open

doorway.