flung her arms round his neck, looked first at me and then at him, burst
out sobbing and crying, and so got from bad to worse, till she had a
sort of fit. I was not at all sure that this might not be one of her
tricks; but it frightened her father so that he forgot himself, and
threw all the blame on me, and said my prudery and conspiring had
tormented and frightened the poor girl out of her wits. After being
insulted in this way, of course the only thing I could do was to leave
the room, and let her have it all her own way with him.

"It was now the autumn, the middle of September; and I was at my wit's
end to know what I ought to think and do next--when Mr. Carr left
Dibbledean. He had been away once or twice before, in the summer, but
only for a day or two at a time. On this occasion, my niece received
a letter from him. He had never written to her when he was away in the
summer; so I thought this looked like a longer absence than usual, and
I determined to take advantage of it to try if I could not break off
the intimacy between them, in case it went the length of any more
letter-writing.

"I most solemnly declare, and could affirm on oath if necessary, that in
spite of all I had seen and all I suspected for these many months, I
had not the most distant idea of the wickedness that had really been
committed. I thank God I was not well enough versed in the ways of sin
to be as sharp in coming to the right conclusion as other women might
have been in my situation. I only believed that the course she was
taking might be fatal to her at some future day; and, acting on that
belief, I thought myself justified in using any means in my power to
stop her in time. I therefore resolved with myself that if Mr. Carr
wrote again, she should get none of his letters; and I knew her
passionate and proud disposition well enough to know that if she could
once be brought to think herself neglected by him, she would break off
all intercourse with him, if ever he came back, immediately.

"I thought myself perfectly justified, standing towards her as I did
in the place of a mother, and having only her good at heart, in taking
these measures. On that head my conscience is still quite easy. I
cannot mention what the plan was that I now adopted, without seriously
compromising a living person. All I can say is, that every letter
from Mr. Carr to our house, passed into my hands only, and was by me
committed to the flames unread. These letters