Tingling with anger, I rushed down and hurried across, determined to end the matter once and forever.
I saw my wife and the maid hurrying back along the lane, but I did not stop to speak with them.
In the cottage lay the secret which was casting a shadow over my life.
I vowed that, come what might, it should be a secret no longer.
I did not even knock when I reached it, but turned the handle and rushed into the passage.
"It was all still and quiet upon the ground floor.
In the kitchen a kettle was singing on the fire, and a large black cat lay coiled up in the basket; but there was no sign of the woman whom I had seen before.
I ran into the other room, but it was equally deserted.
Then I rushed up the stairs, only to find two other rooms empty and deserted at the top.
There was no one at all in the whole house.