"You look as if you had been worried out of your life!" she said. "You are as thin as a thread-paper! Well, you will not be worried here, my child. You can stay as long as you like, and tell me everything or nothing, as you please. One thing I will say--I suppose Flossy is at the bottom of it all?"

"Yes, aunt Leo."

"That accounts for everything. Flossy never could be trusted. Did she want you to be engaged to Hubert?"

"I think so--at first. Now I do not know."

"I suppose they badgered you into it?" said Miss Vane thoughtfully. "Are you going on with it?"--in her usual abrupt tone.

"With the engagement, aunt Leo? Oh, no!"

"Come--that's a good thing!" said aunt Leo briskly. "For I don't think Hubert is quite worthy of you, my dear. He has disappointed me rather.

Well, I won't bother you with any more questions, especially as I have a visitor coming at ten o'clock--a young parson from the country who has written to request an interview. There's the bell--I suppose he has arrived. Begging, I expect! I told Hodges---- Why, he's showing the man in here! Hodges----"

But it was too late. Hodges always obeyed his mistress to the letter; and his mistress, thinking she would be alone, had ordered "the parson"

to be shown into the dining-room. The presence of a visitor made no difference in Hodges' opinion. Accordingly, in spite of Miss Vane's signs and protests, he flung the door wide open, and announced, in a stentorian voice, the parson's name--

"Mr. Evandale."

Then Miss Vane--and Hodges too, before he closed the door--beheld a curious sight; for, instead of looking at his hostess, the parson, who was a singularly handsome man, with a band of crape on his arm, made two strides to the sofa, from which Enid, with a low cry of joy, arose and flung herself into his arms.

"My own darling!" exclaimed the man.

"Maurice--dearest Maurice!" the girl rejoined; and then she burst out crying upon his shoulder; and he kissed her and called her fond names in entire oblivion of Miss Vane's stately presence.

The old lady was both scandalised and offended by these proceedings. Her sharp eyes looked brighter and her rather prominent nose more hawk-like than ever as she made her voice heard at last.

"I should like some explanation of this extraordinary behavior!" she said; with asperity. "Sir, I have not the honor of knowing you! Enid, what does this mean?"

"I am the Rector of Beechfield," said Mr. Evandale. "I most heartily beg your pardon, Miss Vane, for the way in which I have introduced myself to you! I wrote to ask if I might see you, because I know what a friend you have always been to Enid, and I wanted to see you myself and tell you how Enid and I had come to understand each other; but, when I saw my darling here--safe with you--I was so much taken by surprise----"

"I am taken by surprise too," said Miss Vane grimly. "Pray, sir, does the General know of your mutual understanding?"

"No, aunt Leo; and that is one reason why I came to you," said Enid, abandoning Maurice Evandale and bestowing an embrace upon her aunt. "You know, I had just told you that I was not engaged to Hubert."

"You gave up Hubert for this gentleman, did you?"

"I think, aunt Leo, that Hubert gave me up first;" and Enid raised her head and looked earnestly into her aunt's eyes, which fell before that serious candid gaze.

"Well, my dear, well--and was it for this that you came to me?"

Miss Vane's voice was gentler now; and Mr. Evandale took advantage of the opportunity afforded him to pour out the story of his love for Enid--of his certainty that she was not happy, and his endeavor to win her confidence. He went on to say that he had been in Yorkshire attending his father's funeral and settling his affairs for the last few days, and that it had occurred to him to call on Miss Vane--of whom he had so often heard!--on his way through London to Beechfield. He had meant to tell her of Enid's unhappiness and of his attachment to her, and to ask Miss Vane's interest and help; and it was the greatest possible surprise to him to find Enid in the room when he entered it.

"What did you mean by saying that she was safe here?" said Miss Vane at this point. "Safe with me, you said."

Maurice looked at the girl.

"I have told aunt Leo nothing yet," she said. "And, oh, dear aunt Leo, you won't be vexed, will you, if I may speak to Maurice just for five minutes first? Because indeed I am so puzzled that I do not know what to do."

Miss Vane subdued a rising inclination to anger, and did her best to smile.

"Ah, well, I know what you young people are!" she said good-humoredly.

"I suppose I shall be taken into your secrets by-and-by."

Enid kissed her cheek.

"If they were our secrets, you should know all about them this very minute," she said; "but they are not ours, dear auntie."

"Flossy's, I suppose?" said Miss Vane rather shortly, as she disengaged herself from Enid's arm and went out of the room. But she was not ill-pleased, although she pretended to feel piqued by the request for a private interview. "He looks like a man to be trusted," she said. "Enid will be happier with him than with Hubert--poor Hubert, poor miserable, deluded boy! As for Flossy, I cannot think of her without a shudder.

Heaven knows what she has done, but she has most certainly driven Enid out of the house by her conduct! I hope it is nothing very seriously wrong."

At that moment a telegram was put into Miss Vane's hands. It was from the General.

"Is Enid with you? If not, telegraph at once. I am coming up to town by next train."

It seemed long to Miss Vane before she was summoned to the promised conference with Enid and Mr. Evandale. Here a great shock awaited her.

Enid had told her whole story to Maurice, and he had said that, while the midnight interview between Enid and Mrs. Vane might be kept secret--as nothing could absolutely be proved respecting Flossy's sinister designs on Enid's life or health--the confession that Mrs.

Meldreth had made to Enid in her last moments should be made known. Enid was however still reluctant; and Miss Vane was brought in chiefly to give her advice, and thus to settle the question.

"Well," she said, looking keenly from one to the other, as she sat beside Enid's sofa and Mr. Evandale stood before her, "I think I may safely say that it's not the money that either of you cares about."

"No, indeed!" The voices were unanimous.

"Neither money nor lands matter very much to you. But you"--to Evandale--"hate the deceit; and you, on the other hand"--turning to Enid--"are fond of the poor child, who, I must say, has been treated about as badly as any of you. Isn't that the case?"

"Yes, aunt Leo."

"And what's to be done with him when the truth is made known? Is he to be made over to his rightful owner--Sabina Meldreth?"

Enid and Mr. Evandale looked at each other.

"No," said the Rector, at length--"certainly not! We would bring him up ourselves, if need be; and Enid would be to him all that his own mother and Mrs. Vane have failed to be."

"And he should never suffer," said Enid, with tears in her eyes. "I love him as if he were my own little brother, aunt Leo. He should have all the property--as far as I am concerned--if Maurice thought it right."

"Yes, certainly, if the General chose to leave it to him; but the General ought to know," said Mr. Evandale decisively. "I do not see how we can be parties to a deception any longer."

"It is a very hard position for all of us," said Miss Vane. "As for me, I am most seriously concerned for my brother. Have you thought what a terrible shock you are preparing for him?"

Evandale looked grave and did not answer.

"He is devotedly fond of his wife and of the child. To tell him that Florence is a liar and a cheat--that she has practised a deception upon him for many years, in order to gain position and a good income for herself as the mother of his son--above all, to tell him that the boy is not his son at all--do you think that he will survive it? Dare you take upon yourselves the responsibility of shortening his days in that way? I must confess that in your places I should hold my tongue; because it does not seem to have occurred to you that, after all, old Mrs. Meldreth may not have been speaking the truth."

"I never thought of that," said Enid.

"If you had seen the woman herself, Miss Vane, you would have been convinced of her sincerity," said the Rector.

"Possibly. But only you two were there. The General will probably refuse to listen to Enid's testimony, and will fume himself into an apoplectic fit when he hears that she has any to give. You, Mr. Evandale, did not hear the woman's communication at all. Suppose you kill the General by the news--do you want to take the matter into court? Is Enid to stand up and tell her experiences to a pack of lawyers, and hear the world say that she has done it to get the estate for herself? You could not bear it, Enid, my child! You would lose your head and contradict yourself; and Flossy would brazen it out and be the heroine of the day; and Mr.