flanked by the usual array of footmen

Bessy had not come to meet him; but he said to himself that he should find her alone at the house, and that he would make his confession at once. As the carriage passed between the lights on the tall stone gate-posts, and rolled through the bare shrubberies of the avenue, he felt a momentary tightening of the heart--a sense of stepping back into the trap from which he had just wrenched himself free--a premonition of the way in which the smooth systematized routine of his wife's existence might draw him back into its revolutions as he had once seen a careless factory hand seized and dragged into a flying belt.... But it was only for a moment; then his thoughts reverted to Bessy. It was she who was to be considered--this time he must be strong enough for both. The butler met him on the threshold, flanked by the usual array of footmen; and as he saw his portmanteau ceremoniously passed from hand to hand, Amherst once more felt the steel of the springe on his neck. "Is Mrs. Amherst in the drawing-room, Knowles?" he asked. "No, sir," said Knowles, who had too high a sense of fitness to volunteer any information beyond the immediate fact required of him. "She has gone up to her sitting-room, then?" Amherst continued, turning toward the broad sweep of the stairway. "No, sir," said the butler slowly; "Mrs. Amherst has gone away." "Gone away?" Amherst stopped short, staring blankly at the man's smooth official mask. "This afternoon, sir; to Mapleside." "To Mapleside?" "Yes, sir, by motor--to stay with Mrs. Carbury." There was a moment's silence. It had all happened so quickly that Amherst, with the dual vision which comes at such moments, noticed that the third footman--or was it the fourth?--was just passing his portmanteau on to a shirt-sleeved arm behind the door which led to the servant's wing.... He roused himself to look at the tall clock. It was just six. He had telephoned from town at two. "At what time did Mrs. Amherst leave?" The butler meditated. "Sharp at four, sir. The maid took the three-forty with the luggage."