"The fact is," said he, "I have just had a letter from home, with no very good news. My father, who is an old man, has been an invalid for a great many years, varying in health from time to time; but now it seems he has had a very bad attack of asthma along with his other ailments, and the doctors have ordered him off to Bournemouth——" "I am very sorry," said Käthchen, as in duty bound. "And—I have received an intimation that I may be telegraphed for—I might have to leave here at a moment’s notice almost." He hesitated for a second or so. "Miss Glendinning," he said, "you see how I am situated: I may be called away at any moment—with something that is of great importance to me left unsettled. I have been living in a fool’s paradise; I thought there was plenty of time. And then, again, I did not care to confide in any one. But now I am going to appeal to you. Will you tell me something in strictest confidence—something you are likely to know? It might save your friend—you can guess whom I mean—much embarrassment, even pain; and it would be the greatest favour you could possibly confer on me." And now Käthchen knew her surmise was correct; and perhaps she may have been inclined to think that there was something incongruous, something even humorous, in this ordinarily cool and firm-nerved person appearing to be afflicted by the hesitation of an anxious lover, only that she was also aware of the gravity of the situation. For tragic things may happen even to the steeled. "Miss Glendinning," said he, "I want you to tell me if there is anything between Mr. Ross and Miss Stanley?" Well, this was a frank challenge; and she answered it as frankly. "I do not think there is," she said; "but I think there might be at any moment. That is only my impression; and I may be quite wrong; and indeed I have no right to say so——" "But I have appealed to you as a friend, to do me this great favour," said he; and then he paused for a second. "The fact is," he went on, as if with some unwillingness, "I have noticed one or two odd things—Miss Stanley’s indignation with her brother if he said anything against Mr. Ross—and the painful scene of yesterday evening—these things might lead one to conjecture——"