ly in consequence of the
state of the weather that I am now in a position to give you the very
information you require. Mr. Armadale and Miss Milroy met about an hour
since. The circumstances were as follows:

"Just at the beginning of the thunder-storm, I saw one of the grooms run
across from the stables, and heard him tap at his master's window. Mr.
Armadale opened the window and asked what was the matter. The groom said
he came with a message from the coachman's wife. She had seen from her
room over the stables (which looks on to the park) Miss Milroy quite
alone, standing for shelter under one of the trees. As that part of the
park was at some distance from the major's cottage, she had thought
that her master might wish to send and ask the young lady into the
house--especially as she had placed herself, with a thunder-storm coming
on, in what might turn out to be a very dangerous position.

"The moment Mr. Armadale understood the man's message, he called for the
water-proof things and the umbrellas, and ran out himself, instead of
leaving it to the servants. In a little time he and the groom came back
with Miss Milroy between them, as well protected as could be from the
rain.

"I ascertained from one of the women-servants, who had taken the young
lady into a bedroom, and had supplied her with such dry things as she
wanted, that Miss Milroy had been afterward shown into the drawing-room,
and that Mr. Armadale was there with her. The only way of following your
instructions, and finding out what passed between them, was to go round
the house in the pelting rain, and get into the conservatory (which
opens into the drawing-room) by the outer door. I hesitate at nothing,
dear madam, in your service; I would cheerfully get wet every day, to
please you. Besides, though I may at first sight be thought rather an
elderly man, a wetting is of no very serious consequence to me. I assure
you I am not so old as I look, and I am of a stronger constitution than
appears.

"It was impossible for me to get near enough in the conservatory to see
what went on in the drawing-room, without the risk of being discovered.
But most of the conversation reached me, except when they dropped their
voices. This is the substance of what I heard:

"I gathered that Miss Milroy had been prevailed on, against her will, to
take refuge from the thunder-storm in Mr. Armadale's house. She said so,
at least, and she gave two reasons. The first was that