"Why, Mr. Berwick--I mean Lord Bosworth, of course! Who else could it be?" Then she looked rather deprecatingly at her parents: "I could not say anything about it, because it was told me only yesterday, as a great, a very great, secret." "And do you know," continued Miss Vipen in a rather discomfited tone, "who were the witnesses?" "No," said Lucy, "that I do not." "Doctor McKirdy for Lord Bosworth, and Daniel O'Flaherty, that Home Ruling barrister who is mixed up in so many queer cases, for Mrs. Rebell! I can tell you another most extraordinary thing. She was actually married in a white dress--not a veil of course, but a white gown and a hat. And who else do you think were there? Mrs. Turke--it's the first time to my knowledge that she's been in that church for years--the Scotchwoman, Jean, the French maid Léonie, and the butler McGregor! Mrs. Turke wore a pale blue watered silk dress and a pink bonnet; she cried, it seems, so loudly that Mr. Sampson became quite confused----" "And Miss Berwick?" said Lucy quietly, "was she not there too?" "Yes, of course; I was forgetting Miss Berwick. Well, this must be a sad day for her--after all her striving and scheming for her brother! No wonder he kept Fletchings, for I suppose they will have to live there now," Miss Vipen spoke with deep and sincere commiseration. "What a change for _him_ after Chillingworth! He becomes a pauper--for a peer, for a Cabinet Minister, an absolute pauper! They are going to France this afternoon for the honeymoon, but they are to be back soon." * * * * * When Miss Vipen had been seen safely out of the gate by General Kemp, he came back to find his wife alone. Lucy had gone up to her room. "I suppose you expected this, Mary?" "Yes--no"--Mrs. Kemp had an odd look on her face--"and yet I always liked Mr. Berwick from the very little I saw of him. But I confess I never thought this would happen. Indeed, I was afraid, Tom,--there is no harm in saying so now,--I was afraid that in time Oliver Boringdon would obtain what seemed to be the desire of his heart----" "Afraid?" cried the General, "Nothing could have pleased me better, excepting that I should have been sorry for Mrs. Rebell! I suppose that now you are quite delighted, Mary, at the thought that Boringdon will again begin haunting Lucy. It is not by my good will that you have allowed them to write to one another." Poor Mrs. Kemp! She had no answer ready. During the last year she had learnt what hatred was, for she had hated Oliver Boringdon with all the strength of her strong nature; not only had he left Chancton taking Lucy's heart with him, but he had made no effort to free himself of the unwanted possession. Nay, more, almost at once a regular correspondence had begun between the two, and though Lucy was not unwilling that her mother should see his letters, Mrs. Kemp did not find much to console her in them.