ing to leave it. What am I
to think?"

"Oh, ma'am," said he, "I am unhappy; I am tormented, ma'am. I can't tell
you, ma'am; I can't indeed ma'am!"

"If anything weighs upon your mind, Merton, I would advise you to consult
our good clergyman, Dr. Danvers," urged the lady.

The servant hung his head, and mused for a time gloomily; and then said
decisively--"No, ma'am; no use."

"And pray, Merton, how long is it since you first entertained this
desire?" asked Mrs. Marston.

"Since Sir Wynston Berkley came, ma'am," answered he.

"Has Sir Wynston annoyed you in any way?" continued she.

"Far from it, ma'am," he replied; "he is a very kind gentleman."

"Well, his man, then; is he a respectable, inoffensive person?"
she inquired.

"I never met one more so," said the man, promptly, and raising his head.

"What I wish to know is, whether your desire to go is connected with Sir
Wynston and his servant?" said Mrs. Marston.

The man hesitated, and shifted his position uneasily.

"You need not answer, Merton, if you don't wish it," she said kindly.

"Why, ma'am, yes, it has something to say to them both," he replied, with
some agitation.

"I really cannot understand this," said she.

Merton hesitated for some time, and appeared much troubled. "It was
something, ma'am--something that Sir Wynston's man said to me; and there
it is out," he said at last, with an effort.

"Well, Merton," said she, "I won't press you further; but I must say,
that as this communication, whatever it may be, has caused you,
unquestionably, very great uneasiness, it seems to me but probable that
it affects the safety or the interests of some person--I cannot say of
whom; and, if so, there can be no doubt that it is your duty to acquaint
those who are so involved in the disclosure, with its purport."

"No, ma'am, there is nothing in what I heard that could touch anybody but
myself. It was nothing but what others heard, without remarking it, or
thinking about it. I can't tell you anymore, ma'am; but I am very
unhappy, and uneasy in my mind."

As the man said this, he began to weep bitterly.

The idea that his mind was affected now seriously occurred to Mrs.
Marston, and she resolved to convey her suspicions to her husband, and to
leave him to deal with the case as to him should seem good.

"Don't agitate yourself so, Merton; I shall speak to your master upon
what you have said; and you may rely upon it, that no surmise to the
prejudice