Mrs. Weymore turned away, and covered her face with a sort of sob. The young lady and gentleman exchanged startled glances. "You can then?" Mr. Legard said, gravely, but growing very pale. "You know who I am?" To his boundless consternation Mrs. Weymore rose up and fell at his feet, seizing his hands and covering them with kisses. "I do! I do! I know who you are, and so shall you before this wedding takes place. But before I tell you I must speak to Lady Thetford." Mr. Legard raised her up, his face as colorless as her own. "To Lady Thetford! What has Lady Thetford to do with me?" "Everything! She knows who you are as well as I do. I must speak to her first." "Answer me one thing--is my name Vyking?" "No. Pray, pray don't ask me any more questions. As soon as her ladyship is a little stronger, I will go to her and obtain her permission to speak. Keep what I have said a secret from Sir Rupert, and wait until then." She rose up to go, so haggard and deploring-looking, that neither strove to detain her. The young man stared blankly after her as she left the room. "At last!" he said, drawing a deep breath, "at last I shall know!" There was a pause; then May spoke in a fluttering little voice. "How very strange that Mrs. Weymore should know, of all persons in the world." "Who is Mrs. Weymore? How long has she been here? Tell me all you know of her, Miss Everard." "And that 'all' will be almost nothing. She came down from London as a nursery-governess to Rupert and me, a week or two after my arrival here, selected by the rector of St. Gosport. She was then what you see her now, a pale, subdued creature in widow's weeds, with the look of one who had seen trouble. I have known her so long, and always as such a white, still shadow, I suppose that is why it seems so odd." Mrs. Weymore kept altogether out of Mr. Legard's way for the next week or two. She avoided May also, as much as possible, and shrunk so palpably from any allusion to the past scene, that May good naturedly bided her time in silence, though almost as impatient as Mr. Legard himself. And whilst they waited the bridal eve came round, and Lady Thetford was much better, not able to quit her room, but strong enough to lie on a sofa and talk to her son and Col. Jocyln, with a flush on her cheek and sparkle in her eye--all unusual there. The marriage was to take place in the village church; and there was to follow a grand ceremonial of a wedding-breakfast; and then the happy pair were to start at once on their bridal-tour. "And I hope to see my boy return," Lady Thetford said, kissing him fondly. "I can hardly ask for more than that."