The serenity which Matilda experienced as the reward of the painful sacrifice she had made, though deep, heartfelt, and beyond what can be conceived by those, who, living only for the moment, know not what it is to yield up inclination to the more imperious call of duty, was not, however, of a nature to allow her to enjoy, with her former relish, the trifling pursuits of the circle in which she moved; and to this distaste was soon added another, and a more serious cause. Anxiety respecting / her parents now began to make every pleasure of Woodlands insipid; a considerable period had elapsed beyond the time originally fixed for their return, and yet she had not lately received from them, any letter to account for this unforeseen delay. She determined at length to write, requesting that she might be no longer kept in this torturing state of suspense; and was just sitting down to execute her intention, when she was startled by the sudden entrance of her own maid, who addressed her with – ‘Ma'am, a gentleman in black, who waits below, says he wants to speak to you.’

Matilda was in that state of mind, which the smallest circumstance is sufficient to agitate and alarm. Not immediately recollecting that the girl, (who was the daughter of one of the neighbouring cottagers, lately hired to attend her) was not acquainted with Sowerby's appearance; nor adverting, at the moment, to the circumstance of his having, since the death of his wife, constantly dressed in black, a thousand vague and agonizing apprehensions assailed her, as to the name and business of the ominous stranger.