"John, I must come in a moment, please." She heard a chair pushed back, and John's footstep upon the floor.

He opened the door, and stood looking at her with strange, unseeing eyes.
"Go away, Helen," he said hoarsely, without waiting for her to speak, for she was dumb with astonishment at his face,--"go away, my darling." He put out one hand as if to push her back, and closed the door, and she heard the bolt pushed.

She stood a moment staring at the blank of the locked door.

What could it mean?
Alfaretta's misery and morals were forgotten; something troubled John,--she had no thought for anything else.

She turned away as though in a dream, and began absently to take off her garden hat.