Her eyes were directed toward the window, by which a little bookcase had been placed; and, as she looked out on the beautiful garden, there was the faint dawn of a smile upon her lip, but it passed away directly, leaving the lips white and pinched, while a curiously haggard and strange look came into her face. She craned forward and gazed out intently; there was a cold dew upon her forehead, and the hand which took out her kerchief trembled violently. She drew back from the window, but, as if compelled by some emotion she still gazed out. Ralph Elthorne did not notice the change in the nurse's aspect, but illness had made his hearing keen, and he said sharply: "Who is that coming up to the front?" "Miss Elthorne, sir." "But I can hear two people." "A gentleman is with her." "What gentleman? what is he like?" There was a strange singing in Nurse Elisia's ears, as, with her voice now perfectly calm, and her emotion nearly mastered, she described the appearance of the visitor so vividly that Elthorne said at once: "Oh, it's Burwood." She looked at him quickly, to see that he lay back with his eyes half closed, musing, with a satisfied expression upon his face, while her own grew wondering of aspect and strange. For her life at Hightoft had been so much confined to the sick chamber, that she knew very little of the neighbours. The Lydons had often been mentioned in her presence, and, from a hint or two let fall, she had gathered that Isabel was engaged to some baronet in the neighbourhood; but she had not heard his name, which came to her now as a surprise, while the fact of his being in company with the daughter of the house, and the satisfied look upon the father's countenance, left no doubt in her mind that this was the suitor of his choice. The current of her thoughts was broken by her patient, who seemed to wake up from a doze. "Ah, you are there?" he said. "I must have dropped asleep, and was dreaming that you had gone out for your walk, and I could not make anybody hear. Have I been asleep long?" "Very few minutes, sir. In fact, I did not know you were asleep." "Ah, one dreams a great deal in a very short time. You were going to read to me, weren't you?" "Yes, sir. Shall I begin?" "You may as well, though I would as soon think." There was a gentle tap at the door. "Come in. No; see who that is, nurse. Why am I to be so worried! I'm not ill now," he cried peevishly. She crossed to the door and opened it, to find Isabel standing there, flushed and evidently agitated. "May I come in and sit with you a little while, papa?" she said. Elthorne shook his head. "No," he cried shortly, "and I will not be interrupted so. Your aunt was here just now. Pray do not be so tiresome, my dear child. I will send for you if I want you. Why have you left Burwood?" A sob rose to Isabel's throat, and as she saw the nurse standing there, book in hand, a feeling of dislike began to grow within her breast.