Chapter VIII.

Mrs. Phillips Is Relieved

Mrs. Phillips had been much alarmed at the sight of Mr. Brandon almost immediately after Elsie and Mrs. Peck had gone out.  He asked for Miss Alice Melville as soon as he entered, saying he had a letter from her sister and messages from the children for her, so that he would stay with Mrs. Phillips till she returned, and sat down before the window looking steadily out to catch the first sight of her.  Not having her mother’s inventive turn, she was at a loss how to get rid of him.  Brandon must not see Mrs. Peck, and Elsie must be warned to say nothing about her to him.  She sat in torture for some time, and at last in despair she asked him in an awkward embarrassed way to be good enough to go for a nosegay for her, that she had been promised by a mutual friend at Richmond, that she wished very much to have.  He could not help thinking something was wrong.  Mrs. Phillips had always been very inconsiderate to Alice, and no doubt she had been sent to town on some errand that she was ashamed he should know about—­probably to fetch a heavy parcel.  So, instead of going to Richmond, he took the road on which he would be most likely to meet her, so as to assist her if possible, and as he came up to the square where Mrs. Peck and Elsie were talking, he met with a bush acquaintance, who, after the usual greetings to the returned Brandon, pointed to the two female figures, and remarked—­“There’s Mrs. Peck back again to Melbourne, and a very pretty girl with her.  I wonder if she brought her from Adelaide.  I thought Melbourne had lost that ornament for ever, but here she is as large as life again.”

Something in the attitude and form of the girl in the distance reminded him of a person he had seen.  He was sorry for the poor thing, and walked quickly towards the place where they were standing engrossed with their important business.  To his surprise and horror he found she was really the person he thought she slightly resembled, and he lost no time in coming forward to stop the conversation.

Mrs. Phillips was astonished and distressed to see Elsie return with Brandon without Mrs. Peck.  Where they had met, and how they had got rid of her, she could not imagine.  Elsie went to take off her bonnet and return to her work, and Mrs. Phillips was left alone with Brandon.  At his first word, his first question, how could she let Alice Melville go out of her house with a woman so well known in Melbourne as Mrs. Peck, Mrs. Phillips burst into tears.

“I could not help it; indeed, I could not help it.  Stanley will be so angry if you tell him, and I am sure I did all I could to keep her away, but she would come, and she would take a fancy to Alice, and sit with her, and then when I sent Alice out for the buttons, she would go with her.”

“But why have you her here at all, Mrs. Phillips?” said Brandon, gravely.  “You must know that she is no fit person to be in your house, particularly in Mr. Phillips’s absence.  Confide in your good husband.  If there is any part of your past life that you are afraid of her telling, believe me you will not better yourself by keeping in her power—­tell your husband everything, and shake yourself free of this dangerous woman.”