Far from presenting an evil countenance to Lavinia, as the days passed on, Captain Fennel appeared to wish to please her, and was all suavity. So at present nothing disturbed the peace of the Petite Maison Rouge. "What people were they that you stayed with in London, Nancy?" Lavinia inquired of her sister on the first favourable opportunity. Nancy glanced round the salon before answering, as if to make sure they were alone; but Captain Fennel had gone out for a stroll. "We were at James Fennel's, Lavinia." "What--the brother's! And has he a wife?" "Yes; a wife, but no children. Mrs. James Fennel has money of her own, which she receives weekly." "Receives weekly!" echoed Lavinia. "She owns some little houses which are let out in weekly tenements; an agent collects the rents, and brings her the money every Tuesday morning. She dresses in the shabbiest things sometimes, and does her own housework, and altogether is not what I should call quite a lady, but she is very good-hearted. She did her best to make us comfortable, and never grumbled at our staying so long. I expect Edwin paid her something. James only came home by fits and starts. I think he was in some embarrassment--debt, you know. He used to dash into the house like a whirlwind when he did come, and steal out of it when he left, peering about on all sides." "Have they a nice house?" asked Lavinia. "Oh, good gracious, no! It's not a house at all, only small lodgings. And Mrs. James changed them twice over whilst we were there. When we first went they were at a place called Ball's Pond." "Why did you remain all that time?" Mrs. Edwin Fennel shook her head helplessly; she could not answer the question. "I should have liked to come back before," she said; "it was very wearisome, knowing nobody and having nothing to do. Did you find it dull here, Lavinia, all by yourself?" "'Dull' is not the right word for it," answered Lavinia, catching her breath with a sigh. "I felt more lonely, Ann, than I shall ever care to feel again. Especially when I had to come home at night from some soirée, or from spending the evening quietly with Mary Carimon or any other friend." And she went on to tell of the feeling of terror which had so tried her. "I never heard of such a thing!" exclaimed Ann. "How silly you must be, Lavinia! What could there have been in the house to frighten you?" "I don't know; I wish I did know," sighed Lavinia, just as she had said more than once before. Nancy, who was attired in a bright ruby cashmere robe, with a gold chain and locket, some blue ribbons adorning her light ringlets, for she had made a point of dressing more youthfully than ever since her marriage, leaned back in her chair, as she sat staring at her sister and thinking.