l, but I half know your 'thing;' indeed, I believe I know all about
it."

"You do not."

"I believe I do."

"Whom does it concern besides me?"

She coloured; she hesitated; she was silent.

"Speak, Cary! Whom does it concern?"

She tried to utter a name, and could not.

"Tell me; there is none present but ourselves. Be frank."

"But if I guess wrong?"

"I will forgive. Whisper, Cary."

He bent his ear to her lips. Still she would not, or could not, speak
clearly to the point. Seeing that Moore waited and was resolved to hear
something, she at last said, "Miss Keeldar spent a day at the rectory
about a week since. The evening came on very wintry, and we persuaded
her to stay all night."

"And you and she curled your hair together?"

"How do you know that?"

"And then you chattered, and she told you----"

"It was not at curling-hair time, so you are not as wise as you think;
and, besides, she didn't tell me."

"You slept together afterwards?"

"We occupied the same room and bed. We did not sleep much; we talked the
whole night through."

"I'll be sworn you did! And then it all came out--_tant pis_. I would
rather you had heard it from myself."

"You are quite wrong. She did not tell me what you suspect--she is not
the person to proclaim such things; but yet I inferred something from
parts of her discourse. I gathered more from rumour, and I made out the
rest by instinct."

"But if she did not tell you that I wanted to marry her for the sake of
her money, and that she refused me indignantly and scornfully (you need
neither start nor blush; nor yet need you prick your trembling fingers
with your needle. That is the plain truth, whether you like it or
not)--if such was not the subject of her august confidences, on what
point did they turn? You say you talked the whole night through; what
about?"

"About things we never thoroughly discussed before, intimate friends as
we have been; but you hardly expect I should tell you?"

"Yes, yes, Cary; you will tell me. You said we were friends, and friends
should always confide in each other."

"But you are sure you won't repeat it?"

"Quite sure."

"Not to Louis?"

"Not even to Louis. What does Louis care for young ladies' secrets?"

"Robert, Shirley is a curious, magnanimous being."

"I dare say. I can imagine there are both odd points and grand points
about her."

"I have found her chary in showing her feelings; but when they rush out,
river-li