its turn
might be gained by obtaining the assistance of Anne Catherick's mother,
and the only ascertainable means of prevailing on Mrs. Catherick to act
or to speak in the matter depended on the chance of my discovering
local particulars and family particulars first of all from Mrs.
Clements. After thinking the subject over carefully, I felt certain
that I could only begin the new inquiries by placing myself in
communication with the faithful friend and protectress of Anne
Catherick.

The first difficulty then was to find Mrs. Clements.

I was indebted to Marian's quick perception for meeting this necessity
at once by the best and simplest means. She proposed to write to the
farm near Limmeridge (Todd's Corner), to inquire whether Mrs. Clements
had communicated with Mrs. Todd during the past few months. How Mrs.
Clements had been separated from Anne it was impossible for us to say,
but that separation once effected, it would certainly occur to Mrs.
Clements to inquire after the missing woman in the neighbourhood of all
others to which she was known to be most attached--the neighbourhood of
Limmeridge. I saw directly that Marian's proposal offered us a
prospect of success, and she wrote to Mrs. Todd accordingly by that
day's post.

While we were waiting for the reply, I made myself master of all the
information Marian could afford on the subject of Sir Percival's
family, and of his early life. She could only speak on these topics
from hearsay, but she was reasonably certain of the truth of what
little she had to tell.

Sir Percival was an only child. His father, Sir Felix Glyde, had
suffered from his birth under a painful and incurable deformity, and
had shunned all society from his earliest years. His sole happiness
was in the enjoyment of music, and he had married a lady with tastes
similar to his own, who was said to be a most accomplished musician.
He inherited the Blackwater property while still a young man. Neither
he nor his wife after taking possession, made advances of any sort
towards the society of the neighbourhood, and no one endeavoured to
tempt them into abandoning their reserve, with the one disastrous
exception of the rector of the parish.

The rector was the worst of all innocent mischief-makers--an
over-zealous man. He had heard that Sir Felix had left College with
the character of being little better than a revolutionist in politics
and an infidel in religion, and he arrived conscien