ry to see my
position with your eyes, not with mine. The best medical advice that you
can obtain is the advice of Mr. Speedwell. It was he who first made the
discovery that your brother was in broken health."

"The very man for our purpose! I will send him here to-day or to-morrow.
Is there any thing else I can do for you? I shall see Sir Patrick as
soon as I get to town. Have you any message for him?"

Anne hesitated. Looking attentively at her, Julius noticed that she
changed color when he mentioned Sir Patrick's name.

"Will you say that I gratefully thank him for the letter which Lady
Holchester was so good us to give me last night," she replied. "And will
you entreat him, from me, not to expose himself, on my account,
to--" she hesitated, and finished the sentence with her eyes on the
ground--"to what might happen, if he came here and insisted on seeing
me."

"Does he propose to do that?"

She hesitated again. The little nervous contraction of her lips at one
side of the mouth became more marked than usual. "He writes that his
anxiety is unendurable, and that he is resolved to see me," she answered
softly.

"He is likely to hold to his resolution, I think," said Julius. "When I
saw him yesterday, Sir Patrick spoke of you in terms of admiration--"

He stopped. The bright tears were glittering on Anne's eyelashes; one
of her hands was toying nervously with something hidden (possibly Sir
Patrick's letter) in the bosom of her dress. "I thank him with my whole
heart," she said, in low, faltering tones. "But it is best that he
should not come here."

"Would you like to write to him?"

"I think I should prefer your giving him my message."

Julius understood that the subject was to proceed no further. Sir
Patrick's letter had produced some impression on her, which the
sensitive nature of the woman seemed to shrink from acknowledging, even
to herself. They turned back to enter the cottage. At the door they were
met by a surprise. Hester Dethridge, with her bonnet on--dressed, at
that hour of the morning, to go out!

"Are you going to market already?" Anne asked.

Hester shook her head.

"When are you coming back?"

Hester wrote on her slate: "Not till the night-time."

Without another word of explanation she pulled her veil down over her
face, and made for the gate. The key had been left in the dining-room by
Julius, after he had let the doctor out. Hester had it in her hand. She
opened he gate and close