Denzil had never been a hot-blooded young man, and he was no longer in his first youth. He seemed quite satisfied with what his aunt impatiently characterized to herself as "philandering" with the beautiful girl with whom his generosity had enabled him to be on terms of intimacy. He did not make love to Veronica. He complacently played a semi-paternal part, treating her indulgently, as a beloved child; and he was, to all appearance, abundantly content with the situation as it was. But the looker-on knew that this apparently stable and well-balanced position must of necessity be of a most temporary and elusive character. Veronica had not been a week in the house, when the young men of the neighborhood took to coming to call in a persistent and unusual manner; and invitations to dinner arrived, pointedly including "the young friend who is staying with you." It should be remarked that Mr. Vanston possessed in a marked degree one valuable quality--the virtue of discretion. He had held his tongue about the waif girl whom his aunt had rescued from the canal barge. One or two of the old servants at Normansgrave--Chant, the butler, for example--knew of the circumstances of Rona's first appearance. So also did Dr. Causton. The nurse who had then been employed at the Cottage Hospital had since married and left the neighborhood; and as Rona had not been seen for two years, and nobody had spoken of her, she was not, upon her reappearance, associated in people's minds with the circumstances of her first arrival. This had taken place just at the time when poor Felix's suicide, or disappearance, had been in the foreground of everybody's thoughts concerning the Vanstons. Everybody who called upon Miss Rawson during the sad period had been so eager to be informed upon the subject, that the topic of the girl from the barge had not been necessary in order to maintain conversation. And now that Rona had come to stay at Normansgrave for an indefinite term, Denzil decided that she should use her own name, of Leigh, and not be called Smith any longer, as for safety's sake, and in case anybody should be making inquiries for her, she had been called during her two years abroad. Nobody was likely to associate the tall, graceful, well-dressed Miss Leigh, now visiting her friends, with the pale, half-grown creature who had been the first patient at the now popular Cottage Hospital. Denzil had taken an opportunity of telling Dr. Causton that he wished no mention of the barge episode to be made. He said that there was a reason for silence. Dr. Causton, who possessed both brains and eyes, had naturally perceived that Rona was not among her accustomed surroundings when he first found her upon the _Sarah Dawkes_. He concluded that the secret had been confided to the Vanstons, who had so generously befriended her, and kept his counsel accordingly.