The man earned the money--more
than earned it, as the event proved. Magdalen had not taken ten steps
in advance along New Street, walking toward St. James's Park, before
the door of a house beyond her opened, and a lady in mourning came out,
accompanied by two little girls. The lady also took the direction of
the Park, without turning her head toward Magdalen as she descended
the house step. It mattered little; Magdalen's heart looked through her
eyes, and told her that she saw Norah.
She followed them into St. James's Park, and thence (along the Mall)
into the Green Park, venturing closer and closer as they reached the
grass and ascended the rising ground in the direction of Hyde Park
Corner. Her eager eyes devoured every detail in Norah's dress, and
detected the slightest change that had taken place in her figure and
her bearing. She had become thinner since the autumn--her head drooped
a little; she walked wearily. Her mourning dress, worn with the modest
grace and neatness which no misfortune could take from her, was suited
to her altered station; her black gown was made of stuff; her black
shawl and bonnet were of the plainest and cheapest kind.
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