Her interest was in the place , not in the people . `` No . They had a niece once , though . They brought her up and they just worshipped her . She ran away with a worthless fellow -- I forget his name , if I ever knew it . He was handsome and smooth-tongued , but he was a scamp . She died soon after and it just broke their hearts . They do n't even know where she was buried , and they never heard anything more about her husband . I 've heard that Aunt Flora 's hair turned snow-white in a month . I 'll take you up to see her some day when I find time . '' Mrs. Hewitt did not find time , but thereafter Constance ordered her rambles that she might frequently pass Heartsease Farm . The quaint old spot had a strange attraction for her . She found herself learning to love it , and so unused was this unfortunate girl to loving anything that she laughed at herself for her foolishness . One evening a fortnight later Constance , with her arms full of ferns and wood-lilies , came out of the pine woods above Heartsease Farm just as heavy raindrops began to fall . She had prolonged her ramble unseasonably , and it was now nearly night , and very certainly a rainy night at that . She was three miles from home and without even an extra wrap . She hurried down the lane , but by the time she reached the main road , the few drops had become a downpour . She must seek shelter somewhere , and Heartsease Farm was the nearest . She pushed open the gate and ran up the slope of the yard between the hedges of sweetbriar . She was spared the trouble of knocking , for as she came to a breathless halt on the big red sandstone doorstep , the door was flung open , and the white-haired , happy-faced little woman standing on the threshold had seized her hand and drawn her in bodily before she could speak a word .
`` I saw you coming XXXXX upstairs , '' said Aunt Flora gleefully , `` and I just ran down as fast as I could .
about at between from in of that to with without