d me courteously to a seat, and only
took her own after I was seated.

"I feel, sir," said she, "that there will be no end to our
embarrassments if I do not go straight to my object and say at once that
I know you. I tell you frankly, sir, that my brother did not betray
your secret. The instincts of his calling--to _him_ second nature--were
stronger than fraternal love, and all he said to me was, 'Martha, I have
found a gentleman who is going south, and who, without inconvenience,
can see you safely as far as Como.' I implicitly accepted his words, and
agreed to set out immediately. I suspected nothing,--I knew nothing. It
was only before going down to dinner that the paragraph in the 'Courrier
du Dimanche' met my eye, and as I read it, I thought I should have
fainted. My first determination was not to appear at dinner. I felt
that something or other in my manner would betray my knowledge of
your secret. My next was to go down and behave with more than usual
sharpness. You may have remarked that I was very abrupt, almost, shall I
say, rude?"

I tried to enter a dissent at this, but did not succeed so happily as I
meant; but she resumed:--

"At any cost, however, sir, I determined that I alone should be the
depositary of your confidence. Miss Herbert is to me a comparative
stranger; she is, besides, very young; she would be in no wise a
suitable person to intrust with such a secret, and so I said, I will
pretend illness, and remain here for a day; I will make some pretext of
dissatisfaction about the expense of the journey; I will affect to
have had some passing difference, and he can thus leave us ere he
be discovered. Not that I desire this, sir, far from it; this is the
brightest episode in a long life. I never imagined that I should have
enjoyed such an honor; but I have only to think of your safety, and if
an old woman, unobservant and unremarking as myself, could penetrate
your disguise, why not others more keen-sighted and inquisitive? Don't
you agree with me?"

"There is much force in what you say, madam," said I; with dignity, "and
your words touch me profoundly." I thought this a happy expression, for
it conveyed a sort of grand condescension that seemed to hit off the
occasion.

"You would never guess how I recognized you, sir," said she.

"Never, madam." I could have given my oath to this, if required.

"Well," said she, with a bland smile, "it was from the resemblance to
your mother!"

"Indeed!"