nd it is not in my hands
after all. But I must prepare my poor Alice for what may be coming.'

'If any terms are offered to her, she had better put the matter into a
lawyer's hands. Dobson would be a safe man to deal with.'

Miss Headworth was amazed that he--who had helped her in many a little
question bordering on law--should not proffer his aid now in this
greatest stress. He was a resolute, self-controlled man, and she never
guessed at the feeling that made him judge himself to be no fitting
champion for Alice Egremont against her husband. Ever since, ten years
ago, he had learnt that his beautiful neighbour did not regard herself
so certainly a widow as to venture to open her heart to any other love,
he had lived patiently on, content to serve her as a trustworthy
friend, and never betraying the secret hope so long cherished and now
entirely crushed.

He was relieved to escape from the interview, and the poor old lady
remained a little more certain as to her duty perhaps, but with a
certainty that only made her more unhappy, and she was so restless and
nervous that, in the middle of the evening's reading of Archbishop
Trench's Lectures on History, Alice suddenly broke off in the very
middle of a sentence and exclaimed, 'Aunt Ursel! you are keeping
something from me.'

Miss Headworth made a faint attempt by saying something about
presently, and glancing with her eyes to indicate that it was to be
reserved till after Nuttie's bedtime, but the young lady comprehended
the signs and exclaimed, 'Never mind me, Aunt Ursel,--I know all about
mother; she told me last night.'

'It is!' broke in Mrs. Egremont, who had been watching her aunt's face.
'You have heard of _him_.'

'Oh, my father! You really have!' cried Nuttie. 'Then he really was
on the desert island all this time; I was quite sure of it. How
delightful!' She jumped up and looked at the door, as if she expected
to see him appear that instant, clad in skins like Robinson Crusoe, but
her aunt's nervous agitation found vent in a sharp reproof: 'Nuttie,
hold your tongue, and don't be such a foolish child, or I shall send
you out of the room this instant!'

'But aunt?' gasped Alice, unable to bear the suspense.

'Yes, my poor dear child. Captain Egremont with the General got off
with some of the crew in a boat when the Ninon was burnt. He spent a
good many years abroad with the old man, but he has now inherited the
family place, and is living there