"Pray don't think that I have acted foolishly, dear Jenny," she said in a postscript. "It may seem unmaidenly and strange, but I was driven to act as I did. I dared not stay; and beside being in some way a relative, Mr Garstang is so fatherly and kind that I have felt quite safe and at rest. Pray write to me soon. I shall be so glad to hear, for I fear that I shall be rather lonely; and tell your brother how grateful I am to him for his attention to me. I am much better and stronger now, thanks to him." The glow in her cheeks was a little deeper here, and she paused with the intention of re-writing the letter and omitting all allusion to Doctor Leigh, but she felt that it would seem ungrateful to one to whose skill she owed so much; and in spite of a sensation of nervous shrinking, the desire to let him see she was grateful was very strong. So the letter was finished and directed. But still she hesitated, and twice over her hand was stretched out to take and destroy the missive, while her brain grew troubled and confused. "I can't think," she said to herself at last with a sigh; "my brain seems weary and confused;" and then she started from her chair in alarm, for Garstang was standing in the room, the thick curtains and soft carpet having deadened his approach; and in fact, he had been there just within the heavy portiere watching her for some minutes. CHAPTER TWENTY SIX. Pages 172 and 173, the first two pages of Chapter XXVI, are missing from the scan. We will continue to try to find what was upon them. the best way, but it was the best way that offered, was it not?" "Of course; yes," she said eagerly. "Yes, decidedly it was," he said, still speaking in the same quiet, thoughtful way. "You set me thinking, too, my dear, whether I have done right by you in bringing you here. Yes," he said, turning upon her sharply, "I am sure I have, if I treat it as a temporary asylum. Yes, it is right, my child: but perhaps we ought to set to at once--if you feel equal to it, and now that we have time and no fear of interruption--and go over what distant relations or what friends you have, and invite the most suitable, that is to say, the one you would prefer--always supposing this individual possesses the firmness to protect you. Then he or she shall be sent for, and you shall go there." "I do not wish to be ungrateful to you, Mr Garstang." "You ungrateful! It isn't in your nature, my dear. But what do you think of my suggestion?" "I think it is right, and what I should do," she replied.