I got up almost before he had finished speaking. I had a wholesome fear of any cross-questioning on Mrs Payne's part, though it had not occurred to me, as it might perhaps have done to a more experienced young woman, that she might be annoyed by my unduly monopolising her son. But I felt too excited and eager to have replied in a commonplace way, and as we strolled round the tents, vaguely admiring the beautiful groups of flowers and plants they contained, and glancing from side to side in quest of our seniors, I made no pretence of conversation with my companion, and he too was very silent. It was only at the last moment of our solitude, just when we caught sight at last of his father and mother coming towards us, that Clarence slackened his pace a little, and said gently-- "Don't worry about this too much. I am quite sure that when people really want to do what is right and best, things are shaped for us into guidance. I have often found it so in life, though my experience hasn't been a very long one as yet." I felt grateful for his kindness, though I did not reply. There was more on my mind than he understood; the reproachful consciousness of my own foolish presumption was not absent from my mind, paradoxical as this may sound in conjunction with the feeling I have alluded to, of being destined--intended--to be an instrument in the deliverance of the prisoners of the Grim House. "I _need_ not have mixed myself up in it in the least," I thought; "and why, after things have gone on quietly enough with them for so many years apparently, should Caryll go and fall ill in this serious way, and place me in such a tangle of perplexity? For, of course, it does not take much putting two and two together to see that what the poor thing is longing and praying for is to have his brother cleared from the mysterious cloud over him." As will be remembered, the words I had overheard clearly pointed to the elder Mr Grey being the centre of the trouble--my own instinctive conviction since my first glimpse of the four faces in the square pew at Millflowers church. Mrs Payne's first words relieved my immediate apprehension. She looked serenely content, and pleased with herself and everybody else, us truants included. "Is it not a charming show?" she said. "I have never seen a prettier. Your father and I, Clarence, are feeling more eager than ever about the little country-house we often talk of. How I should enjoy managing the garden!" CHAPTER THIRTEEN. THE BEGINNING OF THE END.