I thought of it all the time I was undressing; I thought of it after I was in bed. Not of that only, but of other things. If Mr. Edwin Barley was the enemy of the family, as hinted at by Mr. Chandos, and could do them at will irreparable injury; and if he, Edwin Barley, had thus brought himself into proximity, because he had learnt in some unaccountable manner that I was staying there, how they would have cause to detest me! Of course it might not be. Mr. Edwin Barley might have come for his own purposes to Chandos, irrespective of me. I could only hope it was so; but the doubt caused me most jealously to guard his name, as a connexion of mine, from Mr. Chandos. I dropped into peaceful sleep. My last thought, as it stole over me, was to wonder whether Lizzy Dene and the other maids were watching from the turret-window for the ghost in the pine-walk. CHAPTER XVIII. THE NEW COMPANION. A solitary breakfast for me. Mr. Chandos remained in his room, nursing his foot; Lady Chandos was in hers. As I was eating it, Hill came in. "Will you transact a commission for my lady, this morning, Miss Hereford?" "With great pleasure," I answered, starting up with alacrity, glad that they were going to give me something to do at last. "What is it?" "Well, it's nothing that you need be in such a hurry for as to lose your breakfast," grimly responded Hill. "My lady is sick, Mr. Chandos is disabled, I can't be spared; so we want you to go to Marden, and make some inquiries." "Oh, yes; I will go anywhere. It is very dull here, by myself all day. Is it about Mrs. Penn?" "It is about Mrs. Penn," returned Hill, in her stiffest manner. "You will have to see Mrs. Howard, the lady she referred to, and ask certain questions of her, which will be written down for you." "Am I to go by train, Hill?" "My lady would not send you alone by train. Her own carriage will be round by ten o'clock to convey you to Marden." At ten the carriage drew up. I was quite ready for it. Vain girl! I had put on one of my prettiest dresses, and a white bonnet; my chestnut hair rippled back from my brow, and the pink flowers mingled with it. I had grown fairer in complexion than I was as a child, and my cheeks wore generally a soft bright colour. Stepping in, I was bowled away, in the same state that my lady would have gone. The fine barouche had its handsome hammercloth, its baronet's badge on the panels, its attendant servants. I was born to this social state, if I had not been brought up in it, and it was very delightful. The old lodge-keeper touched his hat to me as we passed through the gates to the smooth road. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, the leafy trees were dancing.