And yet she has run away!

　　She saw me as I advanced, and rose  for a moment to receive me.  I thought  her, then, still more colourless and thin than when I had seen her last; the flashing eyes still brighter, and the scar still plainer.

　　Our meeting was not  cordial.  We had parted  angrily on the last  occasion; and there was an air of disdain about her, which she took no pains to conceal.

　　'I am told  you wish to  speak to me,  Miss Dartle,' said  I, standing near her, with my hand upon the back of the seat, and declining her gesture of  invitation to sit down.

　　'If you please,' said she.  'Pray has this girl been found?'

　　'No.'

　　'And yet she has run away!'

　　I saw her thin  lips working while she  looked at me, as  if they were eager  to load her with reproaches.

　　'Run away?' I repeated.

　　'Yes! From  him,' she  said, with  a laugh.   'If she  is not found, perhaps she never will be found.  She may be dead!'

　　The vaunting cruelty with which she met my glance, I never saw expressed in  any other face that ever I have seen.

　　'To wish her dead,'  said I, 'may be  the kindest wish that  one of her own  sex could bestow  upon her.   I am  glad that  time has  softened you  so much, Miss Dartle.'

　　She condescended  to make  no reply,  but, turning  on me  with another scornful laugh, said:

　　'The friends of this excellent and much-injured young lady are friends of yours. You are their  champion, and assert  their rights. Do  you wish to  know what is known of her?'