was very angry with Mrs. Mole, who
encouraged Miss; and--"

"Good heavens! Why did not Mrs. Bates go with her?"

"Why, sir, you know how old Mrs. Bates is, and my young lady is always
so kind that she would not hear of it, as she is going to travel night
and day; and Mrs. Mole said she had gone all over the world with her
last lady, and that--"

"I see it all. Where is Mr. Gower?"

"Mr. Gower, sir!"

"Yes! Can't you answer?"

"Why, with Mr. Trevanion, I believe, sir."

"In the North,--what is the address!"

"Lord N--, C--Hall, near W--"

I heard no more.

The conviction of some villanous snare struck me as with the swiftness
and force of lightning. Why, if Trevanion were really ill, had the false
servant concealed it from me? Why suffered me to waste his time, instead
of hastening to Lady Ellinor? How, if Mr. Trevanion's sudden illness had
brought the man to London,--how had he known so long beforehand (as he
himself told me, and his appointment with the waiting-woman proved) the
day he should arrive? Why now, if there were no design of which bliss
Trevanion was the object, why so frustrate the provident foresight of
her mother, and take advantage of the natural yearning of affection, the
quick impulse of youth, to hurry off a girl whose very station forbade
her to take such a journey without suitable protection,--against what
must be the wish, and what clearly were the instructions, of Lady
Ellinor? Alone, worse than alone! Fanny Trevanion was then in the hands
of two servants who were the instruments and confidants of an adventurer
like Vivian; and that conference between those servants, those
broken references to the morrow coupled with the name Vivian had
assumed,--needed the unerring instincts of love more cause for
terror?--terror the darker because the exact shape it should assume was
obscure and indistinct.

I sprang from the house.

I hastened into the Haymarket, summoned a cabriolet, drove home as fast
as I could (for I had no money about me for the journey I meditated),
sent the servant of the lodging to engage a chaise-and-four, rushed into
the room, where Roland fortunately still was, and exclaimed,--"Uncle,
come with me! Take money, plenty of money! Some villany I know, though I
can't explain it, has been practised on the Trevanions. We may defeat it
yet. I will tell you all by the way. Come, come!"

"Certainly. But villany,--and to people of such a station--pooh! collect
yourself. Who is