"The Rector," said Mrs Glynn, "came home by the last train last night; and he saw some one--a gentleman--go in at your gate. He was frightened--for you, my dear; and he stood still and watched, meaning to call a policeman if anything was wrong; and then he saw who it was, recognising him in the moonlight. Dear Mrs Brunton! Mr Glynn came home to me in great distress. We have done nothing all night but think, and think, what we ought to do. Oh, my dear girl, hear me out! You are so young, and you have been used to such different ways in India, such hospitality, and all that. We know it, and we know that people there keep a sort of open house, that friends are constantly visiting each other. But it's not so here, and you don't know how people talk, and I thought you would, perhaps, let me speak to you, warn you----" "Of what?" said Nelly, with white lips. All sorts of plans and thoughts had rushed through her mind while this address was made to her--quick impulses, bad and good, to overwhelm her visitor with scorn, to refuse to answer, to turn the meddling woman out of her house. But oh, on the other hand, she wanted help so much! to throw herself upon this kind woman's breast, at her feet. For a moment this battle raged fiercely in her breast, and she herself knew not which side would win. "Mrs Grundy," she said, at length, with a smile upon her parched mouth, not able to articulate any more. "Mrs Grundy!" said the Rector's wife. "Oh, my dear, I am not Mrs Grundy; I am a very anxious friend, anxious to help you, to do anything. Oh, let me help you! We are sure there must be an explanation." "No," cried Nelly, "you are not Mrs Grundy, I know; I was a fool to say that." "Thank you, my dear. You are so young, and a stranger--a stranger to our village ways, Mrs Brunton!" The good woman took Nelly's hand in both of hers, and looked at her with appealing eyes. "I will tell you precisely how it was," said Nelly, hastily, as quickly turned to the good as to the bad impulse. "Nobody was to blame. Mr Fitzroy----" She grew red at the name, and then felt herself chill all over--chill to her very heart, turning as pale as she had been red, as if some ice wind had blown over her. The sensation made her pause for a moment. "Mr Fitzroy stayed a little too late last night; he left himself scarcely time to catch the train--men are so apt to do that. They think they can rush in a moment." "I know," said Mrs Glynn, pressing her hand. "And he lost it," said Nelly, faltering. "He came back; and he remembered that the drawing-room window had been left a little open, and he thought it better to come round by the garden instead of--instead of rousing the house." "Tell me," said Mrs Glynn, "one moment; are you engaged to him, my dear?" Nelly drooped her head. "Not yet," she said. "You shall know everything. He was--saying that--when nurse came to tell him he must fly for his train."