“Yes,” exclaimed Miss Grunderson, “it’s me; no, it’s I!--but, goodness gracious, what _does_ it matter about grammar, when there’s so much trouble in the world?--yes, and I’ve been listening,” continued the young lady, answering Mr. Tredethlyn’s inquiring stare; “and I know that listening in a general way is considered mean; but I think the amount of pa’s ground-rents ought to exempt me from any imputation of meanness. If I didn’t love that sweet lamb so dearly; and if I hadn’t a very sincere regard for you, Mr. Tredethlyn,--having come into money suddenly myself, and knowing how trying it is to carry it off carelessly, and not look as if one was always conscious of being richer than other people;--if I didn’t--in short, I shouldn’t have stopped behind those curtains,--and run the risk of being considered a sneak and a listener. But do say that you forgive me, please, and believe that I meant it for the best?” pleaded Rosa, whose diction was apt to become rather obscure under the influence of excitement. “What, in Heaven’s name, does it all mean, Miss Grunderson?” asked Francis, piteously. He was ready to cling to the frailest spar by which he might float on the wide ocean of perplexity, whose billows had so suddenly encompassed him. “Goodness gracious knows--_I_ don’t any more than the dead though if there _is_ anything in drawing-room tables balancing themselves on tip-toe and great-coats flying about the room like awkward birds the dead may know more than we give them credit for,” exclaimed the lively Rosa, without a single stop; “but it’s very certain there is something wrong, and whatever it is, that Mr. Lowther is at the bottom of it.” “Harcourt Lowther?” “Yes. My pa hears a great deal of gossip at the Bell and--at clubs, and such places; and he always tells me everything he hears. And oh, Mr. Tredethlyn, if you knew how long I have wished to speak my mind to you, I am sure you would forgive me for listening just now.” “My dear Miss Grunderson, what could you have to say to me?” asked the bewildered Cornishman.