my dear Mrs. Willowes?' said Lord Uplandtowers,
whose carriage it was.

She explained what had brought her into this lonely situation; and, as he
was going in the direction of her own home, she accepted his offer of a
seat beside him. Their conversation was embarrassed and fragmentary at
first; but when they had driven a mile or two she was surprised to find
herself talking earnestly and warmly to him: her impulsiveness was in
truth but the natural consequence of her late existence--a somewhat
desolate one by reason of the strange marriage she had made; and there is
no more indiscreet mood than that of a woman surprised into talk who has
long been imposing upon herself a policy of reserve. Therefore her
ingenuous heart rose with a bound into her throat when, in response to
his leading questions, or rather hints, she allowed her troubles to leak
out of her. Lord Uplandtowers took her quite to her own door, although
he had driven three miles out of his way to do so; and in handing her
down she heard from him a whisper of stern reproach: 'It need not have
been thus if you had listened to me!'

She made no reply, and went indoors. There, as the evening wore away,
she regretted more and more that she had been so friendly with Lord
Uplandtowers. But he had launched himself upon her so unexpectedly: if
she had only foreseen the meeting with him, what a careful line of
conduct she would have marked out! Barbara broke into a perspiration of
disquiet when she thought of her unreserve, and, in self-chastisement,
resolved to sit up till midnight on the bare chance of Edmond's return;
directing that supper should be laid for him, improbable as his arrival
till the morrow was.

The hours went past, and there was dead silence in and round about
Yewsholt Lodge, except for the soughing of the trees; till, when it was
near upon midnight, she heard the noise of hoofs and wheels approaching
the door. Knowing that it could only be her husband, Barbara instantly
went into the hall to meet him. Yet she stood there not without a
sensation of faintness, so many were the changes since their parting!
And, owing to her casual encounter with Lord Uplandtowers, his voice and
image still remained with her, excluding Edmond, her husband, from the
inner circle of her impressions.

But she went to the door, and the next moment a figure stepped inside, of
which she knew the outline, but little besides. Her husband was attired
in a flapping