"Has what you are saying anything to do with the young lady I saw last night?" "You have hit it again. It has to do with her. Shall I go on?" Mrs. Lenoir was keeping a stern control over her feelings. She saw that the man was acting a part; she saw that he was no gentleman, and that it behoved her to be careful if she wished to serve the girl who, without any reason but that born of an almost despairing hope, she believed to be her child. "Yes; go on." "I am going to give you my confidence," he said grandiloquently. "I am waiting to receive it." "Well, you know, we are in love with each other." "You told me so last night." "But our positions are different. I am a gentleman, and she is----" "A lady." "In one way, a lady; but you see she has been brought up in a common way, and among common people that it wouldn't do for me to mix with. My family will be mad enough with me as it is, but I dare say I can smooth them over after a bit, if I can show them that the girl has entirely thrown off her old companions and friends." "What is it you propose to do, then?" "To run away with her." Mrs. Lenoir pressed her hand to her heart to still its wild beating; to her comprehension, quickened as it was by love, the villainy of this man was clearly unfolding itself; his tone, his words, his manner, were all betraying him. "Gentlemen have run away with poor girls before to-day," he said, with an airy contemplation of the ring on his finger. "Oh, yes." "But the little witch refuses to elope unless I provide her with a lady-companion." A grateful light was in Mrs. Lenoir's eyes, and a feeling of devout thankfulness in her heart. "Well, now, if you'll agree to one thing, you shall be that lady-companion." "I will agree to anything." "You're a sensible woman. It isn't much to do. You must let the girl understand that you're a relation of mine--an aunt, say. She has set her foolish little mind upon it, and it won't do any harm to humour her. Do you agree?" "Yes; when shall I see her?" "The sooner the thing's done the better. I hate shilly-shallying. I'll send you a message this afternoon, perhaps." "Had you not better write or come to me?" "I mayn't be able to come; I'll write. My plan is this: that you and the young lady shall meet at a railway station, and take a train to the place I fix upon; I will follow by an after train, and pick you up in the country." "That is a good plan," said Mrs. Lenoir, with secret joy at the opportunity he was affording her of rescuing the girl from the snare he had laid for her. "I will prepare myself." "Make yourself presentable; dress like a lady, that's it. Here's some money--buy what you think you'll want--a fashionable dress and a spicy bonnet--it will help you to play your part; you've got good taste, I see." He placed two five-pound notes on the table. "Now I'm off." "You will not mind my asking you a question," said Mrs. Lenoir, with lips that quivered, in spite of herself. "Ask away."