to consult you about. If this was
your case, Midwinter, you would be able to say the right words to
her--you would put it delicately, even though you were putting it quite
in the dark. I can't do that. I'm a blundering sort of fellow; and I'm
horribly afraid, if I can't get some hint at the truth to help me at
starting, of saying something to distress her. Family misfortunes are
such tender subjects to touch on, especially with such a refined woman,
such a tender-hearted woman, as Miss Gwilt. There may have been
some dreadful death in the family--some relation who has disgraced
himself--some infernal cruelty which has forced the poor thing out on
the world as a governess. Well, turning it over in my mind, it struck
me that the major might be able to put me on the right tack. It is
quite possible that he might have been informed of Miss Gwilt's family
circumstances before he engaged her, isn't it?"

"It is possible, Allan, certainly."

"Just my feeling again! My notion is to speak to the major. If I could
only get the story from him first, I should know so much better how to
speak to Miss Gwilt about it afterward. You advise me to try the major,
don't you?"

There was a pause before Midwinter replied. When he did answer, it was a
little reluctantly.

"I hardly know how to advise you, Allan," he said. "This is a very
delicate matter."

"I believe you would try the major, if you were in my place," returned
Allan, reverting to his inveterately personal way of putting the
question.

"Perhaps I might," said Midwinter, more and more unwillingly. "But if I
did speak to the major, I should be very careful, in your place, not to
put myself in a false position. I should be very careful to let no one
suspect me of the meanness of prying into a woman's secrets behind her
back."

Allan's face flushed. "Good heavens, Midwinter," he exclaimed, "who
could suspect me of that?"

"Nobody, Allan, who really knows you."

"The major knows me. The major is the last man in the world to
misunderstand me. All I want him to do is to help me (if he can) to
speak about a delicate subject to Miss Gwilt, without hurting her
feelings. Can anything be simpler between two gentlemen?"

Instead of replying, Midwinter, still speaking as constrainedly as ever,
asked a question on his side. "Do you mean to tell Major Milroy," he
said, "what your intentions really are toward Miss Gwilt?"

Allan's manner altered. He hesitated, and looked confused