neck, entwining it with her arms, convulsively, as if refusing to permit
the tie that had so long bound them together, to be thus rudely torn
asunder. But half an hour of weeping, and of the tenderest consolations,
calmed the poor girl a little, and she was able to listen to the
explanations. These were exceedingly simple, and so clear, as, in
connection with the other evidence, to put the facts out of all doubt.

Miss Hedworth had become known to Mrs. Dutton, while the latter was an
inmate of the house of her patron. A year or two after the marriage of
the lieutenant, and while he was on a distant station, Agnes Hedworth
threw herself on the protection of his wife, asking a refuge for a woman
in the most critical circumstances. Like all who knew Agnes Hedworth,
Mrs. Dutton both respected and loved her; but the distance created
between them, by birth and station, was such as to prevent any
confidence. The former, for the few days passed with her humble friend,
had acted with the quiet dignity of a woman conscious of no wrong; and
no questions could be asked that implied doubts. A succession of
fainting fits prevented all communications in the hour of death, and
Mrs. Dutton found herself left with a child on her hands, and the dead
body of her friend. Miss Hedworth had come to her dwelling unattended
and under a false name. These circumstances induced Mrs. Dutton to
apprehend the worst, and she proceeded to make her arrangements with
great tenderness for the reputation of the deceased. The body was
removed to London, and letters were sent to the uncle to inform him
where it was to be found, with a reference should he choose to inquire
into the circumstances of his niece's death. Mrs. Dutton ascertained
that the body was interred in the usual manner, but no inquiry was ever
made, concerning the particulars. The young duchess, Miss Hedworth's
sister, was then travelling in Italy, whence she did not return for more
than a year; and we may add, though Mrs. Dutton was unable to make the
explanation, that her inquiries after the fate of a beloved sister, were
met by a simple statement that she had died suddenly, on a visit to a
watering-place, whither she had gone with a female friend for her
health. Whether Mr. Hedworth himself had any suspicions of his niece's
condition, is uncertain; but the probabilities were against it, for she
had offended him by refusing a match equal in all respects to that made
by her elder sister, w