"Not like that. Mine is an ugly one, made out of a piece of carpet; I bought it ever so long ago at the fair at Nulle." "Shall you ever go back to Nulle?" "I should be there at this present time, but for a fever that has broken out at Miss Barlieu's. It is getting better, though; I heard from Miss Annette on Saturday." "Fever, or not fever, I should say it would be a happy change for you from this dull place. Dull! This! It was my Elysium. I felt like a guilty girl in my self-consciousness, and the bright colour stole over my face and neck. "Allow me to fasten your dress for you." I thanked her, but laughingly said that I was accustomed to dress myself. She laughed too; observed that schoolgirls generally could help themselves, having no choice upon the point, and turned to look from the window. She stood there with her back to me until I was ready to go down, sometimes turning her head to speak. We quitted the room together, and she seemed to have recovered her good temper. I had reached the foot of the stairs when I happened to look up the well of the staircase. There was the face of Mrs. Penn, regarding me with a strange intensity. What did she see in me? Is this to be a full confession? When my solitary dinner was brought in, and Hickens said his master dined at Warsall, I felt half sick with disappointment. What was I coming to? Something not good, I feared, if I could feel like that; and I sat down after dinner to take myself to task. Why did I love him? _That_ I could not help now; but I could help encouraging it. And yet—_could_ I help it, so long as I stayed at Chandos? I foresaw how it would be: a short period of time—it could not be a long one—and Madame de Mellissie would be there and carry me away with her, and end it. I should get another situation, and never see or hear of Chandos again, or of him. Better go away at once than wait until my heart broke! better go to the fever, as Mrs. Penn had said! "Why! What's the matter?" He had come up to the open window, riding-whip in hand, having alighted at the gates, and left his horse to the groom. There was no possibility of concealment, and my face was blistered with crying. "I felt a little dull, sir." "Dull! Ah, yes; of course you do," he continued, as he came into the room, and stood with me at the window. "I wish I could be more with you, but duties of various kinds call me elsewhere." The very thing I had been thinking ought not to be! My tears were dried, but I felt ashamed of my burning face. "Would you please to let me have that money, Mr. Chandos?" "What money?" "Some I asked you for. Enough to take me to Nulle." "You shall have as much money as you please, and welcome. But not to take you to Nulle." "Oh, sir! I must go." He paused, looking at me. "Will you tell me _why_ you want to go there, knowing that it might be dangerous?"