"Good Mr. Driesen is evidently rejoiced at the prospect of Sir Charles's speedy acquittal, and proud of possessing a little knowledge more than I nave been able to extract this morning from the witness whom he has seen. I think, however, Lady Tyrrell, you may trust with some degree of confidence to what he says, for now that I know the cause of his change of opinion in some degree, I am inclined to suppose that it has not taken place without good grounds." "That is very satisfactory to me, Mr. Morrison," said Mrs. Effingham; "for I confess I have this morning been in great great doubt and difficulty what to do. I have received a letter from Devonshire, informing me that my poor Lucy is very unwell. The medical men there say, not dangerously at present; but of course, I am anxious to set off immediately to be with her; and yet I did not like to go without being able to bear her good news of Charles, which I know would be the best medicine she could receive." "I think, my dear madam," replied Morrison, "that you may set off with all safety, and assure her that though nothing on earth is so uncertain, of course, as the law, yet there is every probability of Charles establishing his innocence beyond a doubt. I think so the more from what Mr. Driesen had just said; but even before I heard that, I was inclined to entertain very great, though not perfectly confident hopes of a favourable result." "If you think so," said Mrs. Effingham, "I will set off immediately. I understood that the trial was to take place to-morrow, and in a few lines in Lucy's own hand, she begged me not to come till it was over; but if you think that the result is very nearly certain, I will go at once." Everard expressed his opinion, that she might go in safety, and consequently she set off as soon as horses could be procured. She found Lucy much more seriously ill than she had expected. She had kept up, and exerted herself, to appear well till Charles Tyrrell had left her; but from that moment had become worse, and all the effects of the fatigue, and grief, and cold, and anxiety, that she had undergone, told upon her health, and reduced her to a situation of great danger. She was slightly better than she had been on the day that her mother arrived, and the fresh hopes which Mrs. Effingham brought her, tended to give a favourable turn to her malady. We must now, however, pause, and once more go back to the scenes in which our tale first began, in order to show how far those hopes were realized or disappointed. CHAPTER XXVI.