d, immediately after dinner, and, for many hours, slept
heavily, in oblivion of all I had suffered, and all I feared.

CHAPTER X.

"Some kinds of baseness
Are nobly undergone, and most poor matters
Point to rich ends."

SHAKESPEARE.

The next morning, after breakfast, I asked Mrs. Middleton what
were her plans for the day. She told me she had got a note
from Henry after I had gone to bed the evening before, to ask
her when and where she wished to see him; that she had sent
him word to come to her before two o'clock, but that she
thought I had better not be present at their first interview.
I instantly proposed to her to go to Alice as soon as I could
be sure that Henry had left his house, and prepare her for the
visit which I knew my aunt intended to make to her in the
afternoon, or else to bring her back with me to Brookstreet. I
felt I had better meet Henry again in her presence than alone.
Mrs. Middleton agreed to all this; and I went to my room to
wait there for his arrival, which was to be the signal for my
departure. In about an hour's time I heard a knock at the
house-door, and having ascertained that Henry was with his
sister, I got into the carriage, and drove off to--Street.

I remember that accidentally I had in my hands a card of
address which my maid had just given me for some shop in
Regent-street, with a long list, in small print, at its back,
of the various articles to be procured there, and that I read
it over and over again, with that nervous attention which we
give to anything that will fix our eyes, and the mechanical
part of our thoughts, when we are in a state of restless
impatience. The carriage stopped at No. 3, in--Street, and I
told the servant to inquire if Mrs. Lovell was at home. The
door was opened by a man who had been Henry's servant since he
went first to Oxford, and who, on seeing me, came up to the
carriage, and told me that Mrs. Lovell was in the square; but
that if I would walk in, and wait a few minutes, he would go
and tell her that I was come.

I followed him up the narrow carpeted stairs; he opened the
door of the back drawing-room, and left me there. For a moment
I sat down on the nearest chair to subdue the quick beating of
my heart. I then looked about me, and examined Alice's room.
It was furnished just as most rooms in London are furnished,
where no particular care has been taken to superintend their
arrangement. There were blue striped sofas and