On the steps stood Aldous Raeburn, his horse held behind him by a boy.
She went and opened the door.
"I will come," she said at once.

"There--I see Mrs.Mullins crossing the common.

Now I can leave her." Aldous, taking off his hat, closed the door behind him and stood with his hand on Marcella's arm, looking at the huddled woman on the settle, at the pale children.

There was a solemnity in his expression, a mixture of judgment and pity which showed that the emotion of other scenes also--scenes through which he had just passed--was entering into it.
"Poor unhappy souls," he said slowly, under his breath.

"You say that you have got some one to see after her.