"And I will tell you why. Once on a time that weak darling stood up for me to his face. She would not tell me what happened. But I believe that ever since father has been as nearly afraid of her as of anyone in the world. . . . And now I want a promise. You say you have been happy in these talks of ours; and heaven knows I have been happier than for many a long day. Well, I want you to tell Molly about me--alone, remember--for of them all she only tried to help me, and believes in me still." "Why, of course I shall." "And," Hetty smiled, "they have no poet among them now. You might send me some of your verses for a keepsake." Charles grew suddenly red in the face. "Why--who told you?" he stammered. "Oh, my dear," she laughed merrily, "one divines it! the more easily for having known the temptation." He had set down his tea-cup and was standing up now, in his young confusion fingering the sewing she had laid aside. "What is this you are doing?" he asked, with his eyes on the baby-linen; and though he uttered the first question that came into his head, and merely to cover his blushes, as he asked it the truth came to him, and he blushed more redly than ever. Hetty blushed too. She saw that he had guessed at length, but she saw him also clothed in a shining innocence. She felt suddenly that, though she might love him better, there were privacies she could not discuss with Charles as with John. And for the moment Charles seemed to her the more distant and mysterious of the two. What she answered was--"We shall be following you back to Lincolnshire in a few days. I am to stay at Louth, in the house where William has found lodgings for his father--who was born at Louth, you know, and has now determined to end his days there. William will not be with me at first; he has to wind up the business at Lincoln and looks for some unpleasantness, as he has made himself responsible for all the old man's debts. I may even find my way to Wroote before facing Louth." "To Wroote?" "As a moth to the old cruel flame, dear. They will not take me in: but I know where to find a bedroom. Women have curious fancies at times; and I feel as if I may die very likely, and I want to see their faces first." She stepped to him and kissed him hurriedly, hearing her husband's step on the stairs. "Remember to speak with Molly!" CHAPTER II. EXTRACTED FROM THE WESLEY CORRESPONDENCE. 1. From Charles Wesley at Oxford to his brother John at Stanton in Gloucestershire.