Thomas Wingfold. Volume III by George MacDonald

Emmeline's mother had not gone far before she became aware that she / was followed. It was a turning of the tables which she did not / relish. As would not have been unnatural, even had she been at peace / with all the world, a certain feeling of undefined terror came upon / her and threatened to overmaster her. It was the more oppressive / that she did not choose to turn and face her pursuer, feeling that / to do so would be to confess consciousness of cause. The fate of her / daughter, seldom absent from her thoughts, now rose before her in / association with herself, and was gradually swelling uneasiness into / terror: who could tell but this man pressing on her heels in the / solitary meadow, and not the poor youth who lay dying there in the / chair, and who might indeed be only another of his victims, was the / murderer of Emmeline! Unconsciously she accelerated her pace until / it was almost a run, but did not thereby widen by a single yard the / distance between her and the curate.

When she came out on the high road, she gave a glance in each / direction, and, avoiding the country, made for the houses. A short / lane led her into Pine street. There she felt safe, the more that it / was market-day and a good many people about, and slackened her pace, / feeling confident that her pursuer, whoever he was, would now turn / aside. But she was disappointed, for, casting a glance over her / shoulder, she saw that he still kept the same distance behind her. / She saw also, in that single look, that he was well-known, for / several were saluting him at once. What could it mean? It must be / the G. B. of the Temple! Should she stop and challenge his pursuit? / The obstacle to this was a certain sinking at the heart accounted / for by an old memory. She must elude him instead. But she did not / know a single person in the place, or one house where she could seek / refuge. There was an hotel before her! But, unattended, heated, / disordered, to all appearance disreputable, what account could she / give of herself? That she had been followed by some one everybody / knew, and to whom everybody would listen! Feebly debating thus with / herself, she hurried along the pavement of Pine Street, with the / Abbey church before her.