It would be a tiresome, useless complication.
But why shouldn't she go up to London for three or four days and have a
good time with him there?
Enid was well aware that absence frequently makes the heart grow fonder,
and that distance does lend enchantment to the view. But she would not
have put it in those exact words.
At last she began walking towards the house, telling herself that she
felt oddly tired, and that it would be very pleasant, for once, to have a
solitary cup of tea. Her house-parlourmaid was shaping very nicely. Thus
the girl had evidently brought the lamps into the sitting-room, though
she had forgotten to draw the curtains.
Enid knocked and rang. She had a theory that the possession of a latchkey
by their mistress makes servants slow to answer the door.
"There's a person waiting for you in the drawing-room, ma'am. She says
she's come down on purpose from London to see you. She came just after
you went out first."
There swept over Enid Crofton a strong, sudden premonition of evil. She
realised that for the last ten days she had been secretly dreading that
this would happen to her. She blamed herself sharply, now that it was too
late, for having done nothing further to help the Pipers; but she had
hoped the five pounds would have kept them quiet.
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