e might be still suspicious of me, and that the
inquiries he made in London, at Mrs. Milroy's instigation, might be
still hanging on his mind.

"'Did Mr. Armadale seem surprised,' I asked, 'when you told him of
our engagement, and when you said it was to be kept a secret from
everybody?'

"'He seemed greatly surprised,' said Midwinter, 'to hear that we were
going to be married. All he said when I told him it must be kept a
secret was that he supposed there were reasons on your side for making
the marriage a private one.'

"'What did you say,' I inquired, 'when he made that remark?'

"'I said the reasons were on my side,' answered Midwinter. 'And I
thought it right to add--considering that Allan had allowed himself to
be misled by the ignorant distrust of you at Thorpe Ambrose--that you
had confided to me the whole of your sad family story, and that you had
amply justified your unwillingness; under any ordinary circumstances, to
speak of your private affairs.'"

("I breathed freely again. He had said just what was wanted, just in the
right way.")

"'Thank you,' I said, 'for putting me right in your friend's estimation.
Does he wish to see me?' I added, by way of getting back to the other
subject of Miss Milroy and the elopement.

"'He is longing to see you,' returned Midwinter. 'He is in great
distress, poor fellow--distress which I have done my best to soothe,
but which, I believe, would yield far more readily to a woman's sympathy
than to mine.'

"'Where is he now?' I asked.

"He was at the hotel; and to the hotel I instantly proposed that we
should go. It is a busy, crowded place; and (with my veil down) I
have less fear of compromising myself there than at my quiet lodgings.
Besides, it is vitally important to me to know what Armadale does next,
under this total change of circumstances--for I must so control his
proceedings as to get him away from England if I can. We took a cab:
such was my eagerness to sympathize with the heart-broken lover, that we
took a cab!

"Anything so ridiculous as Armadale's behavior under the double shock of
discovering that his young lady has been taken away from him, and that
I am to be married to Midwinter, I never before witnessed in all my
experience. To say that he was like a child is a libel on all children
who are not born idiots. He congratulated me on my coming marriage,
and execrated the unknown wretch who had written the anonymous letter,
little thinking that he w