The Countess was stunned for a few minutes, but when she began to recall Nanny’s words, there was no possibility of avoiding very unpleasant conclusions from them, or of failing to see her position at the Vicarage in an entirely new light.  The interpretation too of Nanny’s allusion to a ‘bad name’ did not lie out of the reach of the Countess’s imagination, and she saw the necessity of quitting Shepperton without delay.  Still, she would like to wait for her brother’s letter—­no—­she would ask Milly to forward it to her—­still better, she would go at once to London, inquire her brother’s address at his banker’s, and go to see him without preliminary.

She went up to Milly’s room, and, after kisses and inquiries, said—­’I find, on consideration, dear Milly, from the letter I had yesterday, that I must bid you good-bye and go up to London at once.  But you must not let me leave you ill, you naughty thing.’

‘Oh no,’ said Milly, who felt as if a load had been taken off her back, ’I shall be very well in an hour or two.  Indeed, I’m much better now.  You will want me to help you to pack.  But you won’t go for two or three days?’

’Yes, I must go to-morrow.  But I shall not let you help me to pack, so don’t entertain any unreasonable projects, but lie still.  Mr. Brand is coming, Nanny says.’

The news was not an unpleasant surprise to Mr. Barton when he came home, though he was able to express more regret at the idea of parting than Milly could summon to her lips.  He retained more of his original feeling for the Countess than Milly did, for women never betray themselves to men as they do to each other; and the Rev. Amos had not a keen instinct for character.  But he felt that he was being relieved from a difficulty, and in the way that was easiest for him.  Neither he nor Milly suspected that it was Nanny who had cut the knot for them, for the Countess took care to give no sign on that subject.  As for Nanny, she was perfectly aware of the relation between cause and effect in the affair, and secretly chuckled over her outburst of ‘sauce’ as the best morning’s work she had ever done.

So, on Friday morning, a fly was seen standing at the Vicarage gate with the Countess’s boxes packed upon it; and presently that lady herself was seen getting into the vehicle.  After a last shake of the hand to Mr. Barton, and last kisses to Milly and the children, the door was closed; and as the fly rolled off, the little party at the Vicarage gate caught a last glimpse of the handsome Countess leaning and waving kisses from the carriage window.  Jet’s little black phiz was also seen, and doubtless he had his thoughts and feelings on the occasion, but he kept them strictly within his own bosom.

The schoolmistress opposite witnessed this departure, and lost no time in telling it to the schoolmaster, who again communicated the news to the landlord of ‘The Jolly Colliers’, at the close of the morning school-hours.  Nanny poured the joyful tidings into the ear of Mr. Farquhar’s footman, who happened to call with a letter, and Mr. Brand carried them to all the patients he visited that morning, after calling on Mrs. Barton.  So that, before Sunday, it was very generally known in Shepperton parish that the Countess Czerlaski had left the Vicarage.