But Ann only gave a sob and a gulp, and I knew then that they did not know who had come to see her; whilst I felt perfectly certain that it was _the_ policeman, and, besides, the Signor and Achille must have seen what he was. I was standing close to Miss Furness, who, as soon as she saw Ann, began to bridle up with virtuous indignation; and then set to and hunted the girls into the breakfast-room. "Is Ann going away?" said Patty Smith, in her dawdly, sleepy way. "I like Ann. What's she going away for, Miss Furness, please?" "Hush!" exclaimed Miss Furness, in a horrified way. "Don't ask such questions. She is a very wicked and hardened girl, and Mrs Fortesquieu de Blount has dismissed her, lest she should contaminate either of the other servants." "I'll tell you all about it, presently," whispered Celia Blang; but not in such a low voice but that the indignant Miss Furness overheard her. "You will do nothing of the kind," said the cross old maid, "and I desire that you instantly go back to your seat. If you know anything, you will be silent--silence is golden. Such things are not to be talked about, Miss Blang." Celia made a grimace behind her back, although she was said to be Miss Furness's spy, and supposed to tell her everything; so Patty's curiosity remained unsatisfied, while of course I pretended to know nothing at all about what had been going on. Directly after breakfast, though, Patty had it all by heart, and came red-hot to tell me how that Clara had been caught trying to elope out of the conservatory, whilst Ann was talking from the tall staircase window, when Miss Sloman happened to hear a whispering--for she was lying awake with a bad fit of the toothache. So she went and alarmed the lady principal; and then, with Miss Furness and the Fraulein, they had all watched, and they found it out. Some one, too, had been in the tank, and the conservatory windows were broken, and that was all, except that Mrs Blunt had been writing to Lady Fitzacre--Clara's mamma--and the poor girl was to be expelled; while for the present she was to be kept in her room till her mamma came, unless she would say who was the gentleman she was about to elope with--such stuff!--and then, if she would confess, she was to sit with Mrs Blunt, under surveillance, as they called it. When, leaving alone betraying the poor Signor, of course Clara preferred staying in her own room. Such a miserable wet morning, and though I wanted to, very badly indeed, I could not get into the conservatory to set my poor mind at rest by poking down into the cistern with a blind lath; for if I had gone it might have raised suspicions. Could he still be in the tank, and were my dreams in slumber right? "Oh, how horrible!" I thought; "why, I should feel always like his murderer."