Seth hesitated, but a glance at Arthur's truthful, ingenuous face dispelled his doubts, and he mounted the conveyance with Sally, and entered into earnest conversation with the young man. Mrs. Lenoir, when she stole with the Duchess through the streets of Sevenoaks, had but one object in view--to escape from the town into the country, where she believed they would be safe from pursuit. Blindly she led the way until she came to the country. Fortunately at about this time the snow ceased to fall, and the exciting events of the night rendered her and the Duchess oblivious to the difficulties which attended their steps. So unnerved was the Duchess by what had occurred that she was bereft of all power over her will, and she allowed herself unresistingly, and without question, to be led by Mrs. Lenoir to a place of safety and refuge. They encouraged each other by tender words and caresses, and Mrs. Lenoir looked anxiously before her for a cottage or farmhouse, where they could obtain shelter and a bed. But no such haven was in sight until they were at some distance from the town, when the devoted woman saw a building which she hoped might prove what she was in search of. As they approached closer to the building she was undeceived; before her stood a quaint old church, with a hooded porch, and a graveyard by its side. A sudden faintness came upon her as she recognised the familiar outlines of the sacred refuge in which her child was born; but before the full force of this recognition had time to make itself felt, her thoughts were wrested from contemplation of the strange coincidence by sounds of pursuing shouts. Her mother's fears, her mother's love, interpreted the sounds aright, and she knew that they proceeded from the man from whom they were endeavouring to escape. Seizing the Duchess's arm, she flew towards the porch, and reaching it at the moment Ned Chester overtook them, thrust the girl into the deeper shadows, and stood before her child with flashing eyes with her arms spread out as a shield. "So!" cried Ned Chester, panting and furious; "a pretty trick you have played me! Serve me right for trusting to such a woman!" He strove to push her aside, so that he might have speech with the Duchess, and Mrs. Lenoir struck him in the face. He laughed at the feeble blow--not lightly, but mockingly. The savage nature of the man was roused. He raised his hand to return the blow, when the Duchess stepped forward and confronted him. His arm dropped to his side. "What is the meaning of this?" he asked, endeavouring to convey some tenderness in his tone. "What has this creature been telling you? She has been poisoning your mind against me, if I'm a judge of things. Come, be reasonable; take my arm, and let us return to the hotel." But his power over the girl was gone; the brutality of his manner was a confirmation of the story she had heard of his treachery towards her.