this excuse for giving her the information
that he was bound for Italy?

The impossibility of discussing this
matter with her aunt, and the necessity she
was under of shutting herself up from the
consolation of sympathy or companionship
regarding it, made her morbidly sensitive.
She brooded and tormented herself.

At last she took a resolution:—she
would speak to Mrs. Lockwood. That the
latter had learned the whole story from
her Aunt Hilda, she was well convinced.
But even were that not so, Mrs. Lockwood
would have heard it all from Hugh. Mr.
Frost was the Lockwoods' old and intimate
friend. Maud resolved to speak to Mrs.
Lockwood. One afternoon after their early
dinner she stole down-stairs, leaving Lady
Tallis asleep according to custom. Her tap
at the parlour door was answered by Mrs.
Lockwood's soft voice saying, "Come in;"
and she entered.

Mrs. Lockwood sat at the table, with
an account-book before her. She looked,
Maud thought, old and harassed.

"Do I disturb you, Mrs. Lockwood?
Please say so, if I do; and I will take
another opportunity——"

"You don't disturb me in the least, my
dear Miss Desmond. I have just finished
my accounts for the month. Do sit down
and tell me what I can do for you. There
is nothing the matter with my lady?" she
added, hastily, looking at Maud's face.

"Nothing, nothing. Do not let me
startle you. I wanted to take the liberty
of speaking to you in confidence—may I?"

Mrs. Lockwood took off the spectacles
she was wearing, passed her hands over
her forehead and eyes, and answered
quietly, "Pray speak."

Her manner was not tender nor encouraging,
nor even very cordial; but it nerved
Maud better than a too great show of feeling
would have done. In a few words she
told Mrs. Lockwood what Mr. Frost had
said to her at the Lovegroves' about his
journey to Italy, and so forth.

"Now what I wanted to ask you was
this," said Maud: "You know Mr. Frost
well, and I do not: do you suppose he had
any special motive in saying all this to me,
a total stranger?"

"Any special motive?" repeated Mrs.
Lockwood, reddening, and looking, for her,
singularly embarrassed.

"I mean—what I mean is this, Mrs.
Lockwood: the story of the great sorrow
and affliction that has befallen the home
that was my home from the time I was a
little child until the other day, is known to
you. I am afraid—that is, no doubt it is
known to many, many other people. Is
Mr. Frost one of those who know it? And
did he mean to learn anything or tell
anything about Veronica when he spoke to me
of going to Italy?"

"Oh!" said Mrs. Lockwood, drawing a
long breath and then covering her mouth
with one white, delicate hand. "You were
not thinking of yourself, then, Miss
Desmond?"

"Of myself? What could Mr. Frost's
plans be to me, or why should he care that
I should know them?"

"It was of Hugh he spoke, I thought."

"Ah yes; but incidentally almost. He
spoke to me as of something that it
concerned me to know! I think of Veronica
so constantly, and I am obliged to lock my
thoughts up from Aunt Hilda so jealously,
that perhaps I grow morbid. But I thought
you would forgive my speaking to you."

"As to Mr. Frost, I can answer you in
two words. He knows from the
Lovegroves that you have left Mr. Levincourt's
house because his daughter ran away under
particularly painful circumstances. But if
your aunt has been discreet" (it was a
large "if," and Zillah plainly showed that
she knew it was so), "neither the
Lovegroves nor Mr. Frost know the name of
the man she ran away with. It has been
a subject of gossip, truly, but not in the
circles of society where the Lovegroves
move. Sir John Gale has lived so long
out of England, that he is almost
forgotten."

"Thank you, Mrs. Lockwood," said
Maud, absently.

"I infer from what you say that you
have some reason to believe that your
guardian's daughter is at present in
Italy?"

"Oh, yes, I forgot that you did not
know. I—I had a letter from her."

Mrs. Lockwood raised her eyebrows, and
looked at Maud attentively.

"I know I can trust you not to mention
this to my aunt. You understand how
impossible it is for me to speak of Veronica to
her. Aunt Hilda is kind and gentle, and
yet, on that subject, she speaks with a
harshness that is very painful to me."

"Lady Tallis has been infamously
treated."

"You must understand, if you please,
Mrs. Lockwood, that I have told Mr.
Levincourt of my letter. It is only a
secret from Aunt Hilda."