many words, that he had a prophetic conviction, when he came
into the house, of what she would do when he left it. My explanation of
the matter is a much simpler one. I believe that the knowledge of your
attachment naturally aroused his curiosity to see the object of it, and
that Mrs. Tyrrel's injudicious praises of Norah irritated his objections
into openly declaring themselves. Anyway, your course lies equally plain
before you. Use your influence over your uncle to persuade him into
setting matters right again; trust my settled resolution to see Norah
your wife before six months more are over our heads; and believe me,
your friend and well-wisher,

"HARRIET GARTH."

IV.

_From Mrs. Drake to George Bartram._

"St. Crux, April 17th.

"SIR--I direct these lines to the hotel you usually stay at in London,
hoping that you may return soon enough from foreign parts to receive my
letter without delay.

"I am sorry to say that some unpleasant events have taken place at St.
Crux since you left it, and that my honored master, the admiral, is far
from enjoying his usual good health. On both these accounts, I venture
to write to you on my own responsibility, for I think your presence is
needed in the house.

"Early in the month a most regrettable circumstance took place. Our new
parlor-maid was discovered by Mr. Mazey, at a late hour of the night
(with her master' s basket of keys in her possession), prying into the
private documents kept in the east library. The girl removed herself
from the house the next morning before we were any of us astir, and
she has not been heard of since. This event has annoyed and alarmed my
master very seriously; and to make matters worse, on the day when the
girl's treacherous conduct was discovered, the admiral was seized with
the first symptoms of a severe inflammatory cold. He was not himself
aware, nor was any one else, how he had caught the chill. The doctor was
sent for, and kept the inflammation down until the day before yesterday,
when it broke out again, under circumstances which I am sure you will be
sorry to hear, as I am truly sorry to write of them.

"On the date I have just mentioned--I mean the fifteenth of the
month--my master himself informed me that he had been dreadfully
disappointed by a letter received from you, which had come in the
morning from foreign parts, and had brought him bad news. He did not
tell me what the news was--but I have never, in all the years I ha