At the best there would be a storm of protest and objection on her brother 's and sister 's part , and Emily felt that she could not encounter that in her present mood . It would drive her mad . She lit a lamp and dressed herself noiselessly , but with feverish haste . Then she listened . The house was very still . Amelia and John had gone to bed . She wrapped herself in a heavy woollen shawl hanging in the hall and crept downstairs . With numbed fingers she fumbled at the key of the hall door , turned it and slipped out into the night . The storm seemed to reach out and clutch her and swallow her up . She went through the garden , where the flowers already were crushed to earth ; she crossed the long field beyond , where the rain cut her face like a whip and the wind almost twisted her in its grasp like a broken reed . Somehow or other , more by blind instinct than anything else , she found the path that led through commons and woods and waste valleys to her lost home . In after years that frenzied walk through the storm and blackness seemed as an unbroken nightmare to Emily Fair 's recollection . Often she fell . Once as she did so a jagged , dead limb of fir struck her forehead and cut in it a gash that marked her for life . As she struggled to her feet and found her way again the blood trickled down over her face . `` Oh God , do n't let him die before I get to him -- do n't -- do n't -- do n't ! '' she prayed desperately with more of defiance than entreaty in her voice . Then , realizing this , she cried out in horror . Surely some fearsome punishment would come upon her for her wickedness -- she would find her husband lying dead . When Emily opened the kitchen door of the Fair homestead Almira Sentner cried out in her alarm , who or what was this creature with the white face and wild eyes , with her torn and dripping garments and dishevelled , wind-writhen hair and the big drops of blood slowly trickling from her brow ?
The next moment she recognized Emily and her XXXXX hardened .
face field fingers garden grasp hall house punishment whip wind