eving
that I could prevail with Geoffrey Delamayn, after I had failed with
Mrs. Glenarm. I am obstinate about it still. If he would only have heard
me, my madness in going to Fulham might have had its excuse." She sighed
bitterly, and said no more.

Sir Patrick took her hand.

"It _has_ its excuse," he said, kindly. "Your motive is beyond reproach.
Let me add--to quiet your mind--that, even if Delamayn had been willing
to hear you, and had accepted the condition, the result would still
have been the same. You are quite wrong in supposing that he has only to
speak, and to set this matter right. It has passed entirely beyond
his control. The mischief was done when Arnold Brinkworth spent those
unlucky hours with you at Craig Fernie."

"Oh, Sir Patrick, if I had only known that, before I went to Fulham this
morning!"

She shuddered as she said the words. Something was plainly associated
with her visit to Geoffrey, the bare remembrance of which shook her
nerves. What was it? Sir Patrick resolved to obtain an answer to that
question, before he ventured on proceeding further with the main object
of the interview.

"You have told me your reason for going to Fulham," he said. "But I have
not heard what happened there yet."

Anne hesitated. "Is it necessary for me to trouble you about that?" she
asked--with evident reluctance to enter on the subject.

"It is absolutely necessary," answered Sir Patrick, "because Delamayn is
concerned in it."

Anne summoned her resolution, and entered on her narrative in these
words:

"The person who carries on the business here discovered the address for
me," she began. "I had some difficulty, however, in finding the house.
It is little more than a cottage; and it is quite lost in a great
garden, surrounded by high walls. I saw a carriage waiting. The coachman
was walking his horses up and down--and he showed me the door. It was a
high wooden door in the wall, with a grating in it. I rang the bell. A
servant-girl opened the grating, and looked at me. She refused to let
me in. Her mistress had ordered her to close the door on all
strangers--especially strangers who were women. I contrived to pass some
money to her through the grating, and asked to speak to her mistress.
After waiting some time, I saw another face behind the bars--and it
struck me that I recognized it. I suppose I was nervous. It startled me.
I said, 'I think we know each other.' There was no answer. The door was
s