It was a noise that made Eliphalet Greer stop, a noise of the rattling of the latch on the front door. The metal gave a sharp, incisive sound that made him look up. It made me turn hastily about, and I saw Richard Parton turn also. Then there was a sound of running feet in the hall. The parlor door was open, a rectangle of black. We all must have seen at once when the black changed. We all must have started at the suddenness of it. But it was as though what we all were thinking of had become an embodied fact. There in the lamplight, with her face flushed and her breath coming fast, was Prudence Murdock.
Sometimes I think it’s strange that I never knew. There was no doubting the resemblance. It was clear as day as she stood there struggling to quiet her breath. Her forehead was the same as
