y letter open, however, until
post time, in case the next few hours bring any news.

"Always truly yours,

"DECIMUS BROCK.

"P. S.--I have just heard from the lawyers. They have found out the name
the woman passed by in London. If this discovery (not a very important
one, I am afraid) suggests any new course of proceeding to you, pray act
on it at once. The name is--Miss Gwilt."

2. _From Miss Gwilt to Mrs. Oldershaw_.

The Cottage, Thorpe Ambrose, Saturday, June 28.

"If you will promise not to be alarmed, Mamma Oldershaw, I will begin
this letter in a very odd way, by copying a page of a letter written
by somebody else. You have an excellent memory, and you may not have
forgotten that I received a note from Major Milroy's mother (after she
had engaged me as governess) on Monday last. It was dated and signed;
and here it is, as far as the first page: 'June 23d, 1851. Dear
Madam--Pray excuse my troubling you, before you go to Thorpe Ambrose,
with a word more about the habits observed in my son's household. When
I had the pleasure of seeing you at two o'clock to-day, in Kingsdown
Crescent, I had another appointment in a distant part of London at
three; and, in the hurry of the moment, one or two little matters
escaped me which I think I ought to impress on your attention.' The rest
of the letter is not of the slightest importance, but the lines that I
have just copied are well worthy of all the attention you can bestow on
them. They have saved me from discovery, my dear, before I have been a
week in Major Milroy's service!

"It happened no later than yesterday evening, and it began and ended in
this manner:

"There is a gentleman here, (of whom I shall have more to say presently)
who is an intimate friend of young Armadale's, and who bears the strange
name of Midwinter. He contrived yesterday to speak to me alone in the
park. Almost as soon as he opened his lips, I found that my name had
been discovered in London (no doubt by the Somersetshire clergyman);
and that Mr. Midwinter had been chosen (evidently by the same person)
to identify the Miss Gwilt who had vanished from Brompton with the Miss
Gwilt who had appeared at Thorpe Ambrose. You foresaw this danger, I
remember; but you could scarcely have imagined that the exposure would
threaten me so soon.

"I spare you the details of our conversation to come to the end.
Mr. Midwinter put the matter very delicately, declaring, to my great
surprise, that he felt