The customary interval between his departure and return was spent by Susan in a tumult of hopes and fears.

As noon approached, her suspense arose to a pitch of wildness and agony.

She could scarcely be restrained from running along the road, many miles, towards the city; that she might, by meeting Belding half-way, the sooner ascertain the fate of her lover.

She stationed herself at a window which overlooked the road along which Belding was to pass.
Her sister and her father, though less impatient, marked, with painful eagerness, the first sound of the approaching vehicle.

They snatched a look at it as soon as it appeared in sight.