"Well, Sarah Dobbs," said he, on entering the parlour, "I didn't think you would steal a march on me like this! I did believe you'd have trusted me sooner than a parcel of strangers, after all these years!" He did not sit down in his usual place by the fireside, but remained standing opposite to his old friend, looking at her with a troubled countenance. Mrs. Dobbs gave him one quick, keen glance, and then said-- "So you've heard it, Jo? Well, I didn't mean that you should hear it from any one but me. But who shall stop chattering tongues? They rage like a fire in the stubble. And the poorer and lighter the fuel, the bigger blaze it makes. It was settled only this very morning, too." "It _is_ true, then, Sarah? I had a kind of a hankering hope that it might be only trash and chit-chat." "You mean about my letting my house, don't you? Yes; that's true." "And me never to know a word of it!--To hear it from strangers!" "Now look here, Jo; let us talk sensibly. Sit down, can't you?" But Jo would not sit down; and after a minute's pause, Mrs. Dobbs went on-- "I'll tell you the truth. I didn't say a word to you of my plan beforehand, because I was afraid to--there!" "Afraid! You, Sarah Dobbs, afraid of _me_! That's a good one!" But his face relaxed a little from its pained, fixed look. "Yes; afraid of what you'd say. I knew you wouldn't approve, and I knew why. You wouldn't approve for my sake. But, thinks I, when once it's done, Jo may scold a little, but he'll forgive his old friend. And I never thought of chattering jackdaws cawing the matter from the house-tops. I meant to tell you myself this very afternoon; I did indeed, Jo." Jo drew a little nearer to his accustomed chair, and put his hand on the back of it, keeping his face turned away from Mrs. Dobbs. "Of course, you're the mistress to do what you like with your own property," he muttered. "Nobody's mistress, or master either, to do what's wrong with their own property. I mean to do what's right if I can. I was never one to heed much what outside folks think of me; but I do heed what you think, Jo, and reason good. And I want you to know my feeling about the matter once for all, and then we can leave it alone." Mr. Weatherhead here slid quietly into the armchair, and sat with his face still turned towards the fire. "You know," continued Mrs. Dobbs, "I told you some weeks ago that I was troubled about the child's position here. She is a real lady, and ought to be acknowledged as such. That's the only good that can come now from poor Susy's marriage, and I do hold to it. There was only one way, that I could see, of managing what I wanted. I could do it at a sacrifice--after all, a very small sacrifice." Jo Weatherhead shook his head emphatically.