When tea was served, the maid sent up by Mrs. Wilcox to remind Prudence that it was waiting in the drawing-room, knocked long and vainly at her door, and at last, turning the handle, discovered that the apartment was empty. Knocking at Augusta's door likewise had no result, and the girl came down to say she thought Miss Prudence Semaphore must have gone out already.
This was confirmed by Major Jones, who remembered seeing someone like her turn down Tate Street when on his way home.
Where had she gone to? All the ladies at her table were anxious to know, but they asked in vain. The medical woman saw that her opportunity had come.
"I shall take advantage of her absence," she said resolutely, "to visit that poor, suffering sister of hers, whom I consider she has treated shamefully."
There was a murmur of applause at this noble resolution, and the medical woman, having hastily swallowed her tea, rose from table and made her way upstairs. Mrs. Whitley followed at a convenient distance. She was curious, but not daring. The medical woman knocked at the door of Miss
