"You shall know when you open it."
"Very strange!" he said to himself, vacantly. "It's like a scene in a
novel--it's like nothing in real life." He went slowly into the house,
and Mrs. Lecount waited for him in the garden.
After an absence of a few minutes only he appeared again, on the top of
the flight of steps which led into the garden from the house. He held
by the iron rail with one hand, while with the other he beckoned to Mrs.
Lecount to join him on the steps.
"What does the maid say?" she asked, as she approached him. "Is the mark
there?"
He answered in a whisper, "Yes." What he had heard from the maid had
produced a marked change in him. The horror of the coming discovery had
laid its paralyzing hold on his mind. He moved mechanically; he looked
and spoke like a man in a dream.
"Will you take my arm, sir?"
He shook his head, and, preceding her along the passage and up the
stairs, led the way into his wife's room. When she joined him and locked
the door, he stood passively waiting for his directions, without making
any remark, without showing any external appearance of surprise. He had
not removed either his hat or coat. Mrs.
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