er passed such an hour
of delight in his life as the hour he had spent with Miss Gwilt in the
boat, on the way from Hurle Mere to the picnic party waiting at the
other Broad. Agreeing, on his side, with all that his client said in
praise of the charming stranger, young Pedgift appeared to treat the
subject, when it fell into his hands, from a different point of view.
Miss Gwilt's attractions had not so entirely absorbed his attention as
to prevent him from noticing the impression which the new governess had
produced on her employer and her pupil.

"There's a screw loose somewhere, sir, in Major Milroy's family,"
said the voice of young Pedgift. "Did you notice how the major and his
daughter looked when Miss Gwilt made her excuses for being late at the
Mere? You don't remember? Do you remember what Miss Gwilt said?"

"Something about Mrs. Milroy, wasn't it?" Allan rejoined.

Young Pedgift's voice dropped mysteriously a note lower.

"Miss Gwilt reached the cottage this afternoon, sir, at the time when I
told you she would reach it, and she would have joined us at the time I
told you she would come, but for Mrs. Milroy. Mrs. Milroy sent for her
upstairs as soon as she entered the house, and kept her upstairs a good
half-hour and more. That was Miss Gwilt's excuse, Mr. Armadale, for
being late at the Mere."

"Well, and what then?"

"You seem to forget, sir, what the whole neighborhood has heard about
Mrs. Milroy ever since the major first settled among us. We have all
been told, on the doctor's own authority, that she is too great a
sufferer to see strangers. Isn't it a little odd that she should have
suddenly turned out well enough to see Miss Gwilt (in her husband's
absence) the moment Miss Gwilt entered the house?"

"Not a bit of it! Of course she was anxious to make acquaintance with
her daughter's governess."

"Likely enough, Mr. Armadale. But the major and Miss Neelie don't see it
in that light, at any rate. I had my eye on them both when the governess
told them that Mrs. Milroy had sent for her. If ever I saw a girl look
thoroughly frightened, Miss Milroy was that girl; and (if I may be
allowed, in the strictest confidence, to libel a gallant soldier) I
should say that the major himself was much in the same condition. Take
my word for it, sir, there's something wrong upstairs in that pretty
cottage of yours; and Miss Gwilt is mixed up in it already!"

There was a minute of silence. When the voices were next