'Your days have not been days of trouble surely?' said Miss Montgomerie to him softly. 'My past days have not been without it,' replied Falconer, as a shade crossed his handsome face. 'And your future?' 'Heaven alone knows that--it depends upon another--not myself,' said he, with a brief soft glance that made her colour deepen and her eyelids droop, while he wrote his autograph immediately under that of Sir Piers, whose natal day was also the 5th--dedicated to the memory of Guy Fawkes and Inkermann. 'Cecil!' said Annabelle; 'such a pretty name it is--was it your father's name too?' 'No--I am named from my mother, in a way; her name was Cecilia.' 'How strange?' 'There is nothing strange in it at all,' rejoined Falconer gravely, and Mary could perceive that he coloured almost painfully, and the subject was instantly changed by her; yet it impressed her so much, that she mentioned the incident to her confidante and constant guide, old Mrs. Garth. 'Named from his mother, and he has never been known to mention his father,' thought Mrs. Garth; 'there is some painful mystery here--and all mysteries are decidedly unpleasant! I must endeavour to arrest the progress of this _affair_, for the sake of both, ere it is too late! But how to do it, with sufficient tact and delicacy?' And in this intention she had been further armed by the advice and opinion of Mr. John Balderstone, an old and valued friend and adherent of the Eaglescraig family, who had not been unobservant of the matter in question. CHAPTER IX. MRS. GARTH ACTS A FRIENDLY PART. Nor was the opportunity she wished for long in coming, in the many chances afforded by propinquity, and a residence in the same house; though, in one full of guests, it was difficult to get the object of her solicitude alone. That afternoon, in the drawing-room, Cecil Falconer and Mary were at the piano; the general preparing for a visit to his stables, as it was rainy, and none could go far abroad; Annabelle Erroll and a few other visitors were idling over books of prints, albums, and other trifles; and Mrs. Garth, observant of the two first-named, with something of sadness and impatience in her heart, was in her usual seat near the fireplace, sheltered from the heat by a plate-glass screen, and knitting busily, for she was always knitting as if her livelihood depended upon it--but her industry was all devoted to the comforts of the poor, for she had a kind heart, having known much suffering 'in her time,' as she was wont to say, and thus was ever ready, so far as her slender means went, to aid those who were necessitous, or troubled in any way.