ry one in the house knew who it was that was talking
to Mr. Outhouse, in the little back parlour that was called a study.
Nora was full of anxiety. Would he ask to see them,--to see her? And
why was he there so long? "No doubt he has brought a message from Mr.
Trevelyan," said her sister. "I dare say he will send word that I
ought not to have come to my uncle's house." Then, at last, both Mr.
Outhouse and Hugh Stanbury came into the room in which they were all
sitting. The greetings were cold and unsatisfactory, and Nora barely
allowed Hugh to touch the tip of her fingers. She was very angry with
him, and yet she knew that her anger was altogether unreasonable.
That he had caused her to refuse a marriage that had so much to
attract her was not his sin;--not that; but that, having thus
overpowered her by his influence, he should then have stopped. And
yet Nora had told herself twenty times that it was quite impossible
that she should become Hugh Stanbury's wife;--and that, were Hugh
Stanbury to ask her, it would become her to be indignant with him,
for daring to make a proposition so outrageous. And now she was sick
at heart, because he did not speak to her!

He had, of course, come to St. Diddulph's with a message from
Trevelyan, and his secret was soon told to them all. Trevelyan
himself was up-stairs in the sanded parlour of the Full Moon
public-house, round the corner. Mrs. Trevelyan, when she heard this,
clasped her hands and bit her lips. What was he there for? If he
wanted to see her, why did he not come boldly to the parsonage? But
it soon appeared that he had no desire to see his wife. "I am to take
Louey to him," said Hugh Stanbury, "if you will allow me."

"What;--to be taken away from me!" exclaimed the mother. But Hugh
assured her that no such idea had been formed; that he would have
concerned himself in no such stratagem, and that he would himself
undertake to bring the boy back again within an hour. Emily was, of
course, anxious to be informed what other message was to be conveyed
to her; but there was no other message--no message either of love or
of instruction.

"Mr. Stanbury," said the parson, "has left something in my hands for
you." This "something" was given over to her as soon as Stanbury
had left the house, and consisted of cheques for various small sums,
amounting in all to L200. "And he hasn't said what I am to do with
it?" Emily asked of her uncle. Mr. Outhouse declared that the cheques
had