‘And who got into the chaise, Mary?’ I asked.

’Well, Miss, I waited as long as I could; but the pain was bad, and me so awful cold; I gave it up at last, and came back to bed, for I could not say how much longer they might wait.  And you’ll find, Miss,’twill be kep’ a secret, like the shay as you saw’d, Miss, last week.  I hate them dark ways, and secrets; and old Wyat—­she does tell stories, don’t she?—­and she as ought to be partickler, seein’ her time be short now, and she so old.  It is awful, an old un like that telling such crams as she do.’

Milly was as curious as I, but could throw no light on this.  We both agreed, however, that the departure was probably that of the person whose arrival I had accidentally witnessed.  This time the chaise had drawn up at the side door, round the corner of the left side of the house; and, no doubt, driven away by the back road.

Another accident had revealed this nocturnal move.  It was very provoking, however, that Mary Quince had not had resolution to wait for the appearance of the traveller.  We all agreed, however, that we were to observe a strict silence, and that even to Wyat—­L’Amour I had better continue to call her—­Mary Quince was not to hint what she had seen.  I suspect, however, that injured curiosity asserted itself, and that Mary hardly adhered to this self-denying resolve.

But cheerful wintry suns and frosty skies, long nights, and brilliant starlight, with good homely fires in our snuggery—­gossipings, stories, short readings now and then, and brisk walks through the always beautiful scenery of Bartram-Haugh, and, above all, the unbroken tenor of our life, which had fallen into a serene routine, foreign to the idea of danger or misadventure, gradually quieted the qualms and misgivings which my interview with Doctor Bryerly had so powerfully resuscitated.

My cousin Monica, to my inexpressible joy, had returned to her country-house; and an active diplomacy, through the post-office, was negotiating the re-opening of friendly relations between the courts of Elverston and of Bartram.

At length, one fine day, Cousin Monica, smiling pleasantly, with her cloak and bonnet on, and her colour fresh from the shrewd air of the Derbyshire hills, stood suddenly before me in our sitting-room.  Our meeting was that of two school-companions long separated.  Cousin Monica was always a girl in my eyes.

What a hug it was; what a shower of kisses and ejaculations, enquiries and caresses!  At last I pressed her down into a chair, and, laughing, she said—­

’You have no idea what self-denial I have exercised to bring this visit about.  I, who detest writing, have actually written five letters to Silas; and I don’t think I said a single impertinent thing in one of them!  What a wonderful little old thing your butler is!  I did not know what to make of him on the steps.  Is he a struldbrug, or a fairy, or only a ghost?  Where on earth did your uncle