in at again. My good friends, have
pity on a miserable father and help me to hide this monstrous thing from
the world."

This appeal was not lost: the gentlemen put their heads together and led
Coventry into another room. There Dr. Amboyne attended to him, while Mr.
Carden went down and told his guests the bridegroom had been taken ill,
so seriously indeed that anxiety and alarm had taken the place of joy.

The guests took the hint and dispersed, wondering and curious.

Meantime, on one side of a plaster wall Amboyne was attending the
bridegroom, and stanching the effusion of blood; on the other, Raby and
Jael Dence were bringing the bride to reason.

She listened to nothing they could say until they promised her most
solemnly that she should never be compelled to pass a night under the
same roof as Frederick Coventry. That pacified her not a little.

Dr. Amboyne had also great trouble with his patient: the wound in the
cheek was not serious; but, by a sort of physical retribution--of which,
by-the-bye, I have encountered many curious examples--the tongue, that
guilty part of Frederick Coventry, though slightly punctured, bled so
persistently that Amboyne was obliged to fill his mouth with ice, and at
last support him with stimulants. He peremptorily refused to let him be
moved from Woodbine Villa.

When this was communicated to Grace, she instantly exacted Raby's
promise; and as he was a man who never went from his word, he drove her
and Jael to Raby Hall that very night, and they left Coventry in the
villa, attended by a surgeon, under whose care Amboyne had left him with
strict injunctions. Mr. Carden was secretly mortified at his daughter's
retreat, but raised no objection.

Next morning, however, he told Coventry; and then Coventry insisted on
leaving the house. "I am unfortunate enough," said he: "do not let me
separate my only friend from his daughter."

Mr. Carden sent a carriage off to Raby Hall, with a note, telling Grace
Mr. Coventry was gone of his own accord, and appeared truly penitent,
and much shocked at having inadvertently driven her out of the house.
He promised also to protect her, should Coventry break his word and
attempted to assume marital rights without her concurrence.

This letter found Grace in a most uncomfortable position. Mrs. Little
had returned late to Raby Hall; but in the morning she heard from Jael
Dence that Grace was in the house, and why.

The mother's feathers were up,