“They showed me into the double room on the ground-floor, divided by curtains—­as it was when I last remember it.  There was a fire in the outer division of the room, but none in the inner; and for that reason, I suppose, the curtains were drawn.  The servant was very civil and attentive to me.  I have learned to be thankful for civility and attention, and I spoke to her as cheerfully as I could.  I said to her, ’I shall see Miss Garth here, as she comes up to the door, and I can beckon her in through the long window.’  The servant said I could do so, if you came that way, but that you let yourself in sometimes with your own key by the back-garden gate; and if you did this, she would take care to let you know of my visit.  I mention these trifles, to show you that there was no pre-meditated deceit in my mind when I came to the house.

“I waited a weary time, and you never came:  I don’t know whether my impatience made me think so, or whether the large fire burning made the room really as hot as I felt it to be—­I only know that, after a while, I passed through the curtains into the inner room, to try the cooler atmosphere.

“I walked to the long window which leads into the back garden, to look out, and almost at the same time I heard the door opened—­the door of the room I had just left, and your voice and the voice of some other woman, a stranger to me, talking.  The stranger was one of the parlor-boarders, I dare say.  I gathered from the first words you exchanged together, that you had met in the passage—­she on her way downstairs, and you on your way in from the back garden.  Her next question and your next answer informed me that this person was a friend of my sister’s, who felt a strong interest in her, and who knew that you had just returned from a visit to Norah.  So far, I only hesitated to show myself, because I shrank, in my painful situation, from facing a stranger.  But when I heard my own name immediately afterward on your lips and on hers, then I purposely came nearer to the curtain between us, and purposely listened.

“A mean action, you will say?  Call it mean, if you like.  What better can you expect from such a woman as I am?

“You were always famous for your memory.  There is no necessity for my repeating the words you spoke to your friend, and the words your friend spoke to you, hardly an hour since.  When you read these lines, you will know, as well as I know, what those words told me.  I ask for no particulars; I will take all your reasons and all your excuses for granted.  It is enough for me to know that you and Mr. Pendril have been searching for me again, and that Norah is in the conspiracy this time, to reclaim me in spite of myself.  It is enough for me to know that my letter to my sister has been turned into a trap to catch me, and that Mrs. Lecount’s revenge has accomplished its object by means of information received from Norah’s lips.

“Shall I tell you what I suffered when I heard these things?  No; it would only be a waste of time to tell you.  Whatever I suffer, I deserve it—­don’t I?