had a little startled her, at first. She took
her leave as soon after as possible—that is to
say, as soon as she could summon courage to
force herself from the presence of her
unfortunate sister.

A very little reflection, when the capacity to
reflect returned, convinced her that any attempt
fo identify Lady Glyde and to rescue her by
legal means, would, even if successful, involve
a delay that might be fatal to her sister's
intellects, which were shaken already by the horror
of the situation to which she had been consigned.
By the time Miss Halcombe had got back to
London, she had determined to effect Lady
Glyde's escape privately, by means of the
nurse.

She went at once to her stockbroker; and
sold out of the funds all the little property she
possessed, amounting to rather less than seven
hundred pounds. Determined, if necessary, to
pay the price of her sister's liberty with every
farthing she had in the world, she repaired the
next day, having the whole sum about her, in
bank-notes, to her appointment outside the
Asylum wall.

The nurse was there. Miss Halcombe
approached the subject cautiously by many
preliminary questions. She discovered among other
particulars, that the nurse who had, in former
times, attended on the true Anne Catherick, had
been held responsible (although she was not to
blame for it) for the patient's escape, and had
lost her place in consequence. The same penalty,
it was added, would attach to the person then
speaking to her, if the supposed Anne Catherick
was missing a second time; and, moreover, the
nurse, in this case, had an especial interest in
keeping her place. She was engaged to be
married; aud she and her future husband were waiting
tall they could save, together, between two and
three hundred pounds to start in business. The
nurse's wages were good; and she might
succeed, by strict economy, in contributing her
small share towards the sum required in two
years' time.

On this hint, Miss Halcombe spoke. She
declared that the supposed Anne Catherick
was nearly related to her; that she had been
placed in the Asylum, under a fatal mistake; and
that the nurse would be doing a good and a
Christian action in being the means of restoring
them to one another. Before there was time
to start a single objection, Miss Halcombe took
four bank-notes of a hundred pounds each from
her pocket-book, and offered them to the woman,
as a compensation for the risk she was to run,
and for the loss of her place.

The nurse hesitated, through sheer incredulity
and surprise. Miss Halcombe pressed the point
on her firmly.

"You will be doing a good action," she
repeated; " you will be helping the most injured
and unhappy woman alive. There is your
marriage-portion for a reward. Bring her safely to
me, here; and I will put these four bank-notes
into your hand, before I claim her."

"Will you give me a letter saying those words,
which I can show to my sweetheart, when ho
asks how I got the money?" inquired the
woman.

"I will bring the letter with me, ready written
and signed," answered Miss Halcombe.

"Then I'll risk it," said the nurse.

"When?"

"To-morrow."

It was hastily agreed between them that Miss
Halcombe should return early the next morning,
and wait out of sight, among the trees
—always, however, keeping near the quiet spot
of ground under the north wall. The nurse
could fix no time for her appearance; caution
requiring that she should wait, and be guided by
circumstances. On that understanding, they
separated.

Miss Halcombe was at her place, with the
promised letter, and the promised bank-notes,
before ten the next morning. She waited more
than an hour and a half. At the end of that
time, the nurse came quickly round the corner
of the wall, holding Lady Glyde by the arm.
The moment they met, Miss Halcombe put the
bank-notes and the letter into her hand— and
the sisters were united again.

The nurse had dressed Lady Glyde, with
excellent forethought, in a bonnet, veil, and shawl
of her own. Miss Halcombe only detained her
to suggest a means of turning the pursuit in a
false direction, when the escape was discovered
at the Asylum. She was to go back to the house;
to mention in the hearing of the other nurses
that Anne Catherick had been inquiring,
latterly, about the distance from London to
Hampshire; to wait till the last moment, before
discovery was inevitable; and then to give the
alarm that Anne was missing. The supposed
inquiries about Hampshire, when communicated
to the owner of the Asylum, would lead him to
suppose that his patient had returned to Blackwater
Park, under the influence of the delusion
which made her persist in asserting herself to
be Lady Glyde; and the first pursuit would, in
all probability, be turned in that direction.

The nurse consented to follow these suggestions
—the more readily, as they offered her the
means of securing herself against any worse
consequences than the loss of her place, by
remaining in the Asylum, and so maintaining the
appearance of innocence, at least. She at once
returned to the house; and Miss Halcombe lost
no time in taking her sister back with her to
London. They caught the afternoon train to
Carlisle the same afternoon, and arrived at
Limmeridge, without accident or difficulty of any
kind, that night.

During the latter part of their journey, they
were alone in the carriage, and Miss Halcombe
was able to collect such remembrances of the
past as her sister's confused and weakened
memory was able to recal. The terrible story
of the conspiracy so obtained, was presented in
fragments, sadly incoherent in themselves, and
widely detached from each other. Imperfect as
the revelation was, it must nevertheless be
recorded here before this explanatory narrative