"No, miss. Miggles said"--Miggles was the peripatetic postman--"that all letters had to be sent to Holloway & Dobb, in Nuttonby." Marguerite looked rather puzzled, because her recollection ran differently; she dropped the subject, thinking, doubtless, that her parents' behests had some good reason behind them, and ought to be respected. "Anyhow," she went on, "now that I've broken the ice by coming here, my people may be willing to return. I don't suppose Mr. Armathwaite will stay beyond the summer." "Mr. Walker tole me he thought of takin' the place for a year," said Mrs. Jackson. "Indeed. I'll ask him at lunch. I've wasted the morning, so I'll stay another night, and start early to-morrow. You'll find me a bed in the cottage, won't you, Mrs. Jackson?" "Mebbe, Mr. Armathwaite will be vexed," said Betty, making a half-hearted effort to carry out the compact between herself and her employer. "Leave Mr. Armathwaite to me," laughed Marguerite. "He's a bear, and he growls, but he has no claws, not for women, at any rate. No one could be nicer than he last night. I felt an awful fool, and looked it, too; but he didn't say a single word to cause me any embarrassment. Moreover, he intends crossing the moor with me, and I can't let him get lost in the dark. Men have died who were lost on that moor." "Oh, but that's in the winter, miss, when the snow's deep," said Betty. "Why, I do believe you want to get rid of me!" cried the other. Betty flushed guiltily. She was floundering in deep waters, and struck out blindly. "Oh, no, miss," she vowed. "You know me better than that. P'raps you'll be gettin' married one of these days, an' then you can please yourself, an' live here." "Married! Me get married, and leave dad and mums! Oh, dear no! One young man has asked me already, and I--" "Betty," said a voice from the doorway leading to the hall, "can you give me a duster?" The conclave started apart, like so many disturbed sparrows; but Armathwaite could make a shrewd guess as to the name of the "one young man," since he had Marguerite Ogilvey's own testimony for it that Percy Whittaker would "do anything" to oblige her, and what more likely than that such devotion should lead to matrimony? At luncheon he received with frigidity the girl's statement that she planned remaining in Elmdale till the morrow. "There's really no reason to hurry," she said airily. "The Whittakers know where I am, and I'll send a postcard saying I'll be with them Friday evening." "I must remind you that every hour you prolong your visit you add to the risk of discovery," he said. "Discovery of what, or by whom?" she demanded. "I am only endeavoring to fall in with your own wishes. You came here secretly. You took pains to prevent anyone from recognizing you. Have you changed your mind?" "I--I think I have. You see, your being here makes a heap of difference." "Precisely. You ought to get away all the sooner."