And down he sat in a chair, with a determined air of conscious power--just as his sister had sat _her_self down, a fortnight before, in Mr. Hunter's hall. Mrs. Hunter quitted the room at once, leaving her husband and the stranger in it. Austin followed her. Her face wore a puzzled, vexed look, as she turned it upon Austin. 'Who is that person?' she asked. 'His manner to me appeared to be strangely insolent.' An instinct, for which Austin perhaps could not have accounted had he tried, caused him to suppress the fact that it was the brother of the Miss Gwinn who had raised a commotion at Mr. Hunter's house. He answered that he had not seen the person at the office previously, his tone being as careless a one as he could assume. And Mrs. Hunter, who was of the least suspicious nature possible, let it pass. Her mind, too, was filled with the thought of her husband's suffering state. 'Does Mr. Hunter appear to you to be ill?' she asked of Austin, somewhat abruptly. 'He looked so, I think.' 'Not now; I am not alluding to the present moment,' she rejoined. 'Have you noticed before that he does not seem well?' 'Yes,' replied Austin; 'this week or two past.' There was a brief pause. 'Mr. Clay,' she resumed, in a quiet, kind voice, 'my health, as you are aware, is not good, and any sort of uneasiness tries me much. I am going to ask you a confidential question. I would not put it to many, and the asking it of you proves that my esteem for you is great. That Mr. Hunter is ill, there is no doubt; but whether mentally or bodily I am unable to discover. To me he observes a most unusual reticence, his object probably being to spare me pain; but I can battle better with a known evil than with an unknown one. Tell me, if you can, whether any vexation has arisen in business matters?' 'Not that I am aware of,' promptly replied Austin. 'I feel sure that nothing is amiss in that quarter.' 'Then it is as I suspected, and he must be suffering from some illness that he is concealing.' She wished Austin good morning. He saw her out of the gate, and then proceeded to the room he usually occupied when engaged indoors. Presently he heard Mr. Hunter and his visitor come forth, and saw the latter pass the window. Mr. Hunter came into the room. 'Is Mrs. Hunter gone?' 'Yes, sir.' 'Do you know what she wanted?' 'I do not think it was anything particular. She said she should like to say a word to you, if you were disengaged.' Mr. Hunter did not speak immediately. Austin was making out certain estimates, and his master looked over his shoulder. Not _to look_; his mind was evidently all pre-occupied. 'Did Mrs. Hunter inquire who it was that was with me?' he presently said. 'She inquired, sir. I did not say. I told her I had not seen the person here before.' '_You_ knew?' in a quick, sharp accent. 'Oh, yes.' 'Then why did you not tell her? What was your motive for concealing it?'