"But you promise me, dear mother," urged Emily eagerly, "that you will put no faith in any thing she tells you, and will not confide in her in any way till you have heard the whole?" "That I certainly will take care to avoid, my dear," replied Lady Hastings. "After what you have told me, it would be madness to put any confidence in her--especially when a few short hours will reveal all. You are sure, Emily, that it will not be longer!" "Perfectly certain, my dear mother," answered her daughter. "I would not have promised to refrain from speaking, had I not been certain that the time for such painful concealment must be very short." "Well, then, my dear child, ring the bell," said Lady Hastings. "I will be very guarded merely on your assurances, for I any sure that you are always candid and sincere whatever your poor father may think." Emily rung the bell, and retired to her own room, repeating mournfully to herself, "whatever my poor father may think?--Well, well," she added, "the time will soon come when he will be undeceived, and do his child justice. Alas, that it should ever have been otherwise!" She found relief in tears; and while she wept in solitude Lady Hastings prepared to receive Mrs. Hazleton with cold dignity. She had fully resolved, when Emily left her, to be as silent as possible in regard to every thing that had occurred that day; not to allude, directly or indirectly, to the warning which had been given her, and to leave Mrs. Hazleton to attribute her unwonted reserve to caprice, or any thing else she pleased. But the resolutions of Lady Hastings were very fragile commodities when she fell into the hands of artful people who knew her character, and one was then approaching not easily frustrated in her designs. CHAPTER XLII. Mrs. Hazleton was an observer of all small particulars. She never seemed to give them any attention indeed, but it is not those who notice them publicly who pay most attention to them in private. Now she had never in her life been detained five minutes when she had come to visit Lady Hastings. Her friend was always only too glad to see her. On the present occasion, she had been kept alone for fully ten-minutes in the drawing-room, and she was not at all pleased with this want of alacrity. Her face was as smooth, as gentle, and as smiling when she entered the sick lady's bed-room, as if she had been full of affection and tender consideration; and before she had reached the bed-side, Lady Hastings felt that it would be a somewhat difficult task to play the cold and reserved part she had imposed upon herself. She resolved, doggedly, however, to act it out; and as Mrs. Hazleton approached, she continued looking at her fair delicate hands, or at the rings--now somewhat too large for the fingers they encircled.