nd his
joy, while all that anxiety and all that joy referred exclusively to
the man who was her husband, but whom, as a husband, she had once
abhorred.

CHAPTER XVI.

THE AMERICAN EXPEDITION.

About three years had passed away since Zillah had first come to
Chetwynde, and the life which she had lived there had gradually come
to be grateful and pleasant and happy. Mr. Hilaire was attentive to
his duty and devoted to his pupil, and Zillah applied herself
assiduously to her music and drawing. At the end of a year Mr.
Hilaire waited upon the Earl with a request to withdraw, as he wanted
to go to the Continent. He informed the Earl, however, that Mr.
Gualtier was coming back, and would like to get his old situation, if
possible. The Earl consented to take back the old teacher; and so, in
a few months more, after an absence of about a year and a half,
Gualtier resumed his duties at Chetwynde Castle, _vice_ Mr. Hilaire,
resigned.

On his first visit after his return Hilda's face expressed an
eagerness of curiosity which even her fine self-control could not
conceal. No one noticed it, however, but Gualtier, and he looked at
her with an earnest expression that might mean any thing or nothing.
It might tell of success or failure; and so Hilda was left to
conjecture. There was no chance of a quiet conversation, and she had
either to wait as before, perhaps for months, until she could see him
alone, or else throw away her scruples and arrange a meeting. Hilda
was not long in coming to a conclusion. On Gualtier's second visit
she slipped a piece of paper into his hand, on which he read, after
he had left, the following:

"_I will be in the West Avenue, near the Lake, this afternoon at
three o'clock._"

That afternoon she made some excuse and went out, as she said to
Zillah, for a walk through the Park. As this was a frequent thing
with her, it excited no comment. The West Avenue led from the door
through the Park, and finally, after a long detour, ended at the main
gate. At its farthest point there was a lake, surrounded by a dense
growth of Scotch larch-trees, which formed a very good place for such
a tryst--although, for that matter, in so quiet a place as Chetwynde
Park, they might have met on the main avenue without any fear of
being noticed. Here, then, at three o'clock, Hilda went, and on
reaching the spot found Gualtier waiting for her.

She walked under the shadow of the trees before she said a word.