A Fatal Silence, Vol. 3 (of 3) by Florence Marryat

THE FATE OF PAULIE.

It is a curious fact that when Paula's mind had recovered the first stunning shock of encountering Carl Bjornsën she began to try and persuade herself that she had been mistaken, that the vagrant in Haltham High Street had only borne a remarkable resemblance to her late husband, and that her nerves were in such an excited condition after the accident that she had exaggerated a passing likeness into a reality. All that night she lay awake upon her bed thinking over the assurances she had received of his death, and the improbability of their being untrue, until she had almost persuaded herself she was alarmed without cause. It was a fact that the tramp was very like Carl Bjornsën, but then he might be a Swede, and she knew from experience how much the men of that nation resemble each other. She fancied his eyes had lighted on her with a malevolent glance, but the man was intoxicated, and, doubtless, felt vicious at having been so nearly run over. How _could_ he be Carl Bjornsën, she questioned herself pitifully, when he had died in the workhouse at Paddington? She went over Seth Brunt's information, and her mother's undoubted assurance, again and again, until she had decided that she had been frightened by a chimera, and she had only to look upon the man again to be convinced she was mistaken. By the morning she had come to the resolution that she would do so. She could not live a life of doubt and uncertainty. It would poison her whole existence. She would know the best or the worst before another night came round. When she rose, she was naturally looking pale and haggard. She was the sort of woman who loses all her delicate bloom from the want of one night's sleep. Hal was concerned at her appearance, and wanted her to stay at home and rest, whilst she was madly impatient to be free from his scrutiny, and able to follow out her plan.