He stopped, as though overcome by the prospect of such happiness; but Phillis timidly interposed: "But, Mr. Cheyne, think a moment. How is it to be managed? If you are in too great a hurry, will not the shock be too much for her? She is nervous,--excitable. It would hardly be safe." "That is what troubles me," he returned, anxiously. "It is too much for any woman to bear; and Magdalene--she was always excitable. Tell me, you have such good sense; and, though you are so young, one can always rely on a woman; you understand her so well--I see you do--and she is fond of you,--how shall we act that my poor darling, who has undergone so much, may not be harmed by me any more?" "Wait one moment," returned Phillis, earnestly. "I must consider." And she set herself to revolve all manner of possibilities, and then rejected them one by one. "There seems no other way," she observed, at last, fixing her serious glance on Mr. Cheyne. "I must seek for an opportunity to speak to Miss Mewlstone. It must be broken carefully to your poor wife; I am sure of that. Miss Mewlstone will help us. She will tell us what to do, and how to do it. Oh, she is so kind, so thoughtful and tender, just as though Mrs. Cheyne were a poor wayward child, who must be guided and helped and shielded. I like her so much: we must go to her for counsel." "You must indeed, and at once!" he returned, rather peremptorily; and Phillis had a notion now what manner of man he had been before misfortunes had tamed and subdued him. His eyes flashed with eagerness; he grew young, alert, full of life in a moment. "Forgive me if I am too impetuous; but I have waited so long, and now my patience seems exhausted all at once during the last hour. I have been at fever-point ever since you have proved to me that my wife--my Magdalene--has been true to me. Fool that I was! why have I doubted so long? Miss Challoner, you will not desert me?--you will be my good angel a little longer? You will go to Miss Mewlstone now,--this very moment,--and ask her to prepare my wife?" "It is time for me to be going home: mother and Nan will think I am lost," returned Phillis, in a quiet, matter-of-fact tone. "Come Mr. Cheyne, we can talk as we go along." For he was so wan and agitated that she felt uneasy for his sake. She took his arm gently, and guided him as though he were a child; and he obeyed her like one. "Promise me that you will speak to her at once," he said, as he walked beside her rather feebly; and his gait became all at once like that of an old man. But Phillis fenced this remark very discreetly.