who regarded Sir John as the cause of his
disappointment; he who had last met Susan Raymond at the time of his
rejection; he whom she had left prostrate among the sofa cushions; he had
absolutely exerted himself to brush his hair and put on coat and boots,
yet how horribly ill and nervous he looked, totally devoid of his usual
cool assurance, uncertain whether to shake hands with the two ladies, and
showing a strange restless eagerness as though entirely shaken off his
balance.

Matters were mended by his entrance. Phoebe liked Lady Raymond from the
moment she detected a sign to the vehement Sir John not to keep his host
standing during the discussion of the robbery, and she ventured on
expressing her gratitude for his escort on the day of the hunt. Then
arose an entreaty to view the scene of the midnight adventure, and the
guests were conducted to the gallery, shown where each party had stood,
the gas-pipe, the mark of the pistol-shot, and the door was opened to
display the cabinet, and the window of the escape. To the intense
surprise of her brother and sister, Bertha was examining her emeralds.

She came forward quite at her ease, and if she had been ten years a woman
could not more naturally have assumed the entertainment of Lady Raymond,
talking so readily that Phoebe would have believed the morning's
transactions a delusion, but for Mervyn's telegraph of astonishment.

The visitors had been at the Holt, and obtained a promise from Miss
Charlecote to spend the ensuing Saturday week at Moorcroft. They begged
the sisters to accompany her. Phoebe drew back, though Mervyn hurried
out declarations of his not wanting her, and the others never going out,
till she hardly knew how it had been decided; but as the guests departed
she heard Mervyn severely observing to Bertha--'no, certainly I should
not send you to keep company with any well-behaved young ladies.'

'Thank you, I have no desire to associate with commonplace girls,' said
Bertha, marching off to the west wing.

'You will go, Phoebe,' said Mervyn.

'Indeed, if I did it would be partly for the sake of giving change to
Bertha, and letting her see what nice people really are.'

'Are you crazy, Phoebe? I would not have Bertha with her impudence and
her pedantry go among the Raymonds--no, not for the Bank of England.'

Those words darted into Phoebe's mind the perception why Mervyn was, in
his strange way, promoting her intercourse with Moorcroft, not onl