ngly ill, nor was the fever supposed to be
contagious, except under certain conditions. Mr. Hale, the
Thornleigh doctor, made very light of the business, and assured us
that his patient would be as well as ever in a week's time. But in
the mean while my dear girl kept her room, and I nursed her, with
the assistance of her devoted little maid.

Mr. Egerton came every day, generally twice a day, to inquire about
the invalid's progress, and would stay for half an hour, or longer,
talking to Mrs. Darrell or to me. He was very much depressed by this
illness, and impatient for his betrothed's recovery. He had been
strictly forbidden to see her, as perfect repose was an essential
condition to her well-being.

The week was nearly over, and Milly had improved considerably. She
was now able to sit up for an hour or two every day, and the doctor
promised Mr. Egerton that she should be in the drawing-room early in
the following week. The weather had been incessantly wet during this
time--dull, hopeless, perpetual rain day after day, without a break
in the leaden sky. But at last there came a fine evening, and I went
down to the terrace to take a solitary walk after my long
imprisonment. It was between six and seven o'clock; Milly was
asleep, and there was no probability of my being wanted in the sick-
room for half an hour or so. I left ample instructions with my handy
little assistant, and went down for my constitutional, muffled in a
warm shawl.

It was dusk when I went out, and everything was unusually quiet, not
a leaf was stirring in the stagnant atmosphere. Late as it was, the
evening was almost oppressively warm, and I was glad to throw off my
shawl. I walked up and down the terrace in front of the Hall for
about ten minutes, and then went round towards the drawing-room
windows. Before I had quite reached the first of these, I was
arrested by a sound so strange that I stopped involuntarily to
listen. Throughout all that followed, I had no time to consider
whether I was doing right or wrong in hearing what I did hear; but I
believe if I had had ample leisure for deliberation, it would have
come to the same thing--I should have listened. What I heard was of
such vital consequence to the girl I loved, that I think loyalty to
her outweighed any treachery against the speaker.

The strange sound that brought me to a standstill close to the wide-
open window was the sound of a woman's passionate sobbing--such a
storm of weepi