sponsible for her immense
disappointment. He let that pass, and when he spoke again it was to draw
her out on the more important subject of what progress Mr. Cecil
Burleigh had made in her interest. It was truly vexatious, but as Bessie
told her simple tale she was conscious that her color rose and deepened
slowly to a burning blush. Why? She vehemently assured herself that she
did not care a straw for Mr. Cecil Burleigh, that she disliked him
rather than otherwise, yet at the mere sound of his name she blushed.
Perhaps it was because she dreaded lest anybody should suspect the
mistake her vanity had made before. Her grandfather gave her one acute
glance, and was satisfied that this business also went well.

"Mr. Cecil Burleigh left the yacht at Ryde. It was the first day of the
regatta when we anchored there, and we landed and saw the town," was all
Bessie said in words, but her self-betrayal was eloquent.

"We--what do you mean by _we_? Did your uncle Frederick land?" asked the
squire, not caring in the least to know.

"No--only Mr. Cecil Burleigh and myself. We went to the house of some
friends of his where we had lunch; and afterward Mrs. Gardiner and one
of the young ladies took me to the Arcade. My uncle never landed at all
from the day we left Caen till we arrived at Scarcliffe. Mrs. Betts went
into Harwich with me. That is a very quaint old town, but nothing in
England looks so battered and decayed as the French cities do."

Mr. Fairfax knew all about Miss Julia Gardiner, and Elizabeth's
information that Mr. Cecil Burleigh had called on the family in Ryde
caused him to reflect. It was very imprudent to take Elizabeth with
him--very imprudent indeed; of course, the squire could not know how
little he was to blame. To take her mind off the incident that seriously
annoyed himself, he asked what troubles Caen had seen, and Bessie,
thankful to discourse of something not confusing, answered him like a
book:

"Oh, many. It is very impoverished and dilapidated. The revocation of
the Edict of Nantes ruined its trade. Its principal merchants were
Huguenots: there are still amongst the best families some of the
Reformed religion. Then in the great Revolution it suffered again; the
churches were desecrated, and turned to all manner of common uses; some
are being restored, but I myself have seen straw hoisted in at a church
window, beautiful with flamboyant tracery in the arch, the shafts below
being partly broken away.