ation, but Mr. Verner had
declined. The public investigation would come soon enough, he observed,
and that must satisfy them. Mrs. Verner saw no reason why she should be
absent, and she took her seat. Her sons were there. The news had reached
John out-of-doors, and he had hastened home full of consternation. Dr.
West also remained by request, and the Frosts, father and son, had
pressed in. Mr. Verner could not deny _them._

"To begin at the beginning," observed Mr. Verner, "it appears that
Rachel left this house between six and seven. Did she mention to anybody
where she was going?"

"I believe she did to Nancy, sir," replied Mrs. Tynn, who had been
allowed to remain.

"Then call Nancy in," said Mr. Verner.

Nancy came, but she could not say much: only that, in going up the front
stairs to carry some linen into Mrs. Verner's room, she had met Rachel,
dressed to go out. Rachel had said, in passing her, that she was about
to visit her father.

"And she came?" observed Mr. Verner, turning to Matthew Frost, as Nancy
was dismissed.

"She came, sir," replied the old man, who was having an incessant battle
with himself for calmness; for it was not there, in the presence of
others, that he would willingly indulge his grief. "I saw that she had
been fretting. Her eyes were as red as ferrets'; and I taxed her with
it. She was for turning it off at first, but I pressed for the cause,
and she then said she had been scolded by her mistress."

"By me!" exclaimed Mrs. Verner, lifting her head in surprise. "I had not
scolded her."

But as she spoke she caught the eye of her son John, and she remembered
the little scene of the afternoon.

"I recollect now," she resumed. "I spoke a word of reproof to Rachel,
and she burst into a violent flood of tears, and ran away from me. It
surprised me much. What I said was not sufficient to call forth one
tear, let alone a passionate burst of them."

"What was it about?" asked Mr. Verner.

"I expect John can give a better explanation of it than I," replied Mrs.
Verner, after a pause. "I went out of the room for a minute or two, and
when I returned, Rachel was talking angrily at John. I could not make
out distinctly about what. John had begun to tease her about Luke Roy, I
believe, and she did not like it."

Mr. John Massingbird's conscience called up the little episode of the
coveted kiss. But it might not be altogether prudent to confess it in
full conclave.

"It is true that I di