When at last she got
to the lodge gate, the woman in charge of it took her for a common
beggar, and could hardly be persuaded to let her pass. She was just
going up to the door when she heard her husband's cry. She saw the
lighted window, flew to it, dashed it open, and entered. It was the last
expiring effort of the poor remnant of her strength. She had not life
enough left to resist the shock of her father-in-law's blows.
While still the father stood looking down on his children, the door
softly opened, and the mother entered. She knew nothing, not even that
her husband had returned, came merely to know how her unlovely but
beloved child was faring in his heavy sleep. She stood arrested. She saw
what looked like a murdered heap on the floor, and her husband standing
over it, like the murderer beginning to doubt whether the deed was as
satisfactory as the doing of it. But behind her came Hester, and peeping
over her shoulder understood at once. Almost she pushed her mother
aside, as she sprang to help. Her father would have prevented her. "No,
father!" she said, "it is time to disobey." A pang as of death went
through her at the thought that she had not spoken.
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