after
marriage; the promise, observe, concerned the future. But she was not
merely indifferent; she shrank from Mutimer.

She returned home from the lecture to-day full of dread--dread more
active than she had yet known. And it drove her to a step she had
timidly contemplated for more than a week. She stole from the house,
bent on seeing Mr. Wyvern. She could not confess to him, but she could
speak of the conflict between her mother's will and her own, and beg his
advice; perhaps, if he appeared favourable, ask him to intercede with
her mother. She had liked Mr. Wyvern from the first meeting with him,
and a sense of trust had been nourished by each succeeding conversation.
In her agitation she thought it would not be hard to tell him so much of
the circumstances as would enable him to judge and counsel.

Yet it was with relief, on the whole, that she turned homewards with her
object unattained. It would be much better to wait and test herself yet
further. Why should she not speak with her mother about that vow she was
asked to make?

She did not seek solitude again, but joined her mother and Alfred in
the sitting-room. Mrs. Waltham made no inquiry about the short absence.
Alfred had only just called to mind the newspaper which Mr. Keene had
given him; and was unfolding it for perusal. His eye caught a marked
paragraph, one of a number under the heading 'Gossip from Town.' As he
read it he uttered a 'Hullo!' of surprise.

'Well, here's the latest,' he continued, looking at his companions
with an amused eye. 'Something about that fellow Eldon in a Belwick
newspaper. What do you think?'

Adela kept still and mute.

'Whatever it is, it cannot interest us, Alfred,' said Mrs. Waltham, with
dignity. 'We had rather not hear it.'

'Well, you shall read it for yourself,' replied Alfred on a second
thought. 'I think you'd like to know.'

His mother took the paper under protest, and glanced down at the
paragraph carelessly. But speedily her attention became closer.

'An item of intelligence,' wrote the London gossiper, 'which I dare
say will interest readers in certain parts of--shire. A lady of French
extraction who made a name for herself at a leading metropolitan theatre
last winter, and who really promises great things in the Thespian art,
is back among us from a sojourn on the Continent. She is understood to
have spent much labour in the study of a new part, which she is about
to introduce to us of the modern Babylo