As they approached quite close to the mansion, Sibyl turned her very pale face and stole her small hand into that of the farmer. "I am so frightened!" she said; "and I know quite well this is going to ruin me, and I shall have to go back home to be a burden to father, who is very poor, and who thinks so much of my being educated here. But I--I will do it all the same." "Of course you will, missie; and poverty don't matter a mite." "Perhaps it doesn't," said Sibyl. "Compared to a light heart, it don't matter a gossoon, as they say in Ireland," remarked the farmer. Sibyl felt suddenly uplifted. "I'll see you through, missie," he added as they came up to the wide front entrance. A doctor's carriage was standing there, and it was quite evident that one or two doctors were in the house. "Oh," said Sibyl with a gasp, "suppose we are betrayed!" "No, we won't be that," said the farmer. Sibyl pushed open the door, and then, standing in the hall, she rang a bell. A servant presently appeared. Before Sibyl could find her voice Farmer Miles said, "Will you have the goodness to find Mrs. Haddo and tell her that I, Farmer Miles of the Stoke Farm, have come here accompanied by one o' her young ladies, who has something o' great importance to tell her at once?" "Perhaps you will both come into Mrs. Haddo's private sitting-room?" said the girl. The farmer nodded assent, and he and Sibyl entered. When they were inside the room Sibyl uttered a faint sigh. The farmer took out his handkerchief and wiped his forehead. "What a lot o' fal-lals, to be sure!" he said, looking round in a by no means appreciative manner. Sibyl and the farmer had to wait for some little time before Mrs. Haddo made her appearance. When she did so a great change was noticeable in her face; it was exceedingly pale. Her lips had lost their firm, their even noble, expression of self-restraint; they were tremulous, as though she had been suffering terribly. Her eyes were slightly red, as though some of those rare tears which she so seldom shed had visited them. She looked first at Farmer Miles and then in great amazement at Sibyl. "Why are you here, Sibyl Ray?" she said. "I sent you to London with the other girls of the upper school this morning. What are you doing here?" "Perhaps I can tell you best, ma'am, if you will permit me to speak," said the farmer. "I hope you will be very brief, Farmer Miles. I could not refuse your request, but we are all in great trouble to-day at the school. One of our young ladies--one greatly beloved by us all--is exceedingly, indeed I must add most dangerously, ill." "It's about her we've come," said the farmer. Here Mrs. Haddo sank into a seat. "Why, what do you know about Miss Betty Vivian?"