talk to you? did she never tell you of-of my own mother-my sweet mother?"-she paused, and her voice sank almost to a whisper; but it was a whisper clear and thrilling, and Eleanor's cheek turned pale, and a shudder passed through her frame as she heard, "Eleanor; she was insane."

There followed a long pause, until Eleanor said very gently, "Mamma, if it is true, would tell you all,5

Blanche shook her head: "I could not ask her. I had a thought a foolish one-that you might know."

No, never. Could I have hidden it from you?" Perhaps so; they all did. They thought it right: it was a cruel kindness."

1

"Are you quite certain it is true?" asked Eleanor. "Maude says so; and I feel it. I understand things now. Oh! if I could have comforted her but for one hour!" and Blanche groaned in agony for the past, whilst Eleanor trembled at the horrible train of thought which in those few moments had been conjured up for the future.

Blanche recovered herself by degrees. She related what had passed with Maude, and showed Eleanor how the fact was confirmed by her mother's papers, and the strange silence and mystery in which everything connected with her was involved. She seemed to shrink from any attempt to persuade her into disbelief. "It was better,' "she said, "to face the truth at once; that was what she was now longing to do entirely. A few days ago she could have gone to her aunt; but there had been an unhappy misunderstanding; she scarcely knew how it had arisen; from some foolish changeableness of her own, she believed. It had worried Lady Charlton extremely, and she had not recovered it. There is no one besides her, except your mother," continued Blanche, and Eleanor assented. She did not ven

stroking his chin; "the earl and I have pursuits in common, we are both literary men."

"There's a thought of his lordship and Lady Blanche remaining here through the winter, I suppose," said Pearson; "at least my lady seemed to say so the other day.'

"What should your lady know about it?" exclaimed Sir Hugh; "the earl has no fixed plans, he told me so confidentially. If I were to ask him to Senilhurst he would go.'

"And be delighted, no doubt," replied Pearson; "he has not been looking at all well lately."

"No wonder, living at this place. He and young Wentworth together."-Sir Hugh mused again, but whether upon the travelling plans, or the probable indignation of Lady Charlton if he presumed to give Mr. Wentworth an invitation to Senilhurst, it is impossible to say. The difficulty which perplexed him, whatever it was, seemed, however, to be insurmountable, for after the silence of a few minutes, he exclaimed, "It won't do; no, it wont do; and after all, spring is the best time for seeing a place. If we stay here a few weeks longer we shall help them on into the winter, and they can come to us early in the spring."

Pearson was in dismay; but he was a man of singular patience, and having reached the point from which he had started, he steadily set forth to traverse the same ground again; pulling Sir Hugh one way, in the conviction that he would be sure to go the other, until at length he had once more brought him to face the possibility of removing to Senilhurst immediately, taking Lord Rutherford and Lady Blanche with them, and giving an indirect invitation to Mr. Wentworth to follow at his earliest convenience. This last resolution, however, Sir Hugh did not fail to qualify by repeating, "I shan't invite him; I hate

regular invitations. Only if he likes it of course he will be welcome. Mind, Pearson, I have no intention of inviting him."

Pearson assented both to the letter and the spirit of this declaration, and having arranged his master's pillows for about the twentieth time since the conversation began, ventured to suggest that Lady Charlton might be glad to know of Sir Hugh's definite plan. A gracious permission was given, and Sir Hugh raised himself in his arm-chair to look imposing, and spreading a blank sheet of paper before him, chose a new pen that he might make a legible list of imperative orders for the journey.

"Sir Hugh would be glad to speak with you, my lady," said Pearson, as he met Lady Charlton at the foot of the stairs. His face was impenetrable, but his self-satisfied tone showed that all difficulties had been smoothed away.

"I will be with him directly," was Lady Charlton's soft reply; and Pearson went off to the servant's hall, charmed at his own cleverness, in having ruled his master, pleased his mistress, and been instrumental in suggesting an idea, which he had good reason to think would gratify one at least of the young ladies; and all without committing himself.

CHAPTER XXVII.

It was not a long interview between Sir Hugh and Lady Charlton; no interviews of this kind ever were long; for Lady Charlton, when she had once gained a point, took care not to dwell sufficiently upon it to give time for a change of feeling. The determination of returning to Senilhurst was especially important to her at this moment, as the neighbourhood of the Rectory was, in her eyes, becoming every day more undesirable. Even if the earl and Blanche persisted in remaining at Rutherford, she had resolved to go; but independently of her own pleasure, their society would, she knew, be a great inducement to Sir Hugh to consent to her wishes. His vanity would be flattered by the idea of showing Blanche his own place and his own plans; and, as she had calculated upon this as the easy mode of obtaining her point, she was the more provoked at the indecision which Blanche had evinced. Still she did not doubt of gaining her object eventually. Pearson's skill was almost always successful in winning Sir Hugh's consent, even against his favourite wishes; and Blanche was too gentle not to be easily brought round. Yet Lady Charlton allowed no surprise or satisfaction to be visible when she entered the library. She was quietly indifferent, and even put a few obstacles in the way of a sudden removal; obstacles which, of course, only strengthened Sir Hugh's resolution, and gave him a sense of power in showing the clever way in which he could surmount them.

"Lord Rutherford and Blanche must be talked

over," he said; and Lady Charlton agreed; not even a smile betraying that the suggestion had been made to them previously.

The day of departure was next to be fixed. Sir Hugh named it-determined the hour of startingwrote down the names of the few villages through which they were to pass before they reached a railway station, and the time which the distance might be expected to take; and then proceeded to copy out the after details of the journey from a railway guide, Lady Charlton assisting him by reading out 11.25, 12.50, &c., in due succession.

When, at length, the word Senilhurst was written, in legible characters, at the bottom of the paper, announcing the termination of the journey, Sir Hugh threw himself back in his chair and exclaimed, "There, my dear; now I think I have done my part. I have saved you all the trouble of arrangement, and you will have nothing in the world to do but just to obey orders-the easiest thing of all-just to obey orders-nothing more. We leave this place at half-past eight precisely; we reach Senilhurst at twenty minutes past six. Don't trouble yourself; don't distress yourself about anything: you see when a man is once accustomed to this sort of thing it becomes quite easy. You may tell Maude and Ady, if you like it; but it will be as well to leave Rutherford to me. Gentlemen always manage these things best with each other. 1 shall hint my wishes gently, and bring him round by degrees."

"Perhaps it might be the best way," said Lady Charlton, and she rose to leave the room.

"Stop, my dear Frances; Lady Charlton, you are in such a hurry. Sit down, will you. One thing we have forgotten-dinner. Let me see; we start at half-past eight; we reach Walton at 10; Ditchley, 12.35; Hoxley Road, 2:40; Sunbridge, 5.15;

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