"Yes, Dally, this evening, and nobody must know. Insist upon seeing him yourself, and bring me back an answer by word of mouth, if he cannot write." "Yes, miss." "Can I trust you?" "Trust me, miss? Why, of course!" cried Dally, for Leo was giving her the opportunity she had sought. For days past she had been trying to find some way of getting a word with Tom Candlish; but, so far, it had been impossible. Now the way had been put into her hands. "Thankye, miss," she said, dropping a curtsy, as she slipped a long letter and a sovereign into her pocket. "And if I don't settle your affair there, madam," she said to herself, "I don't know Tom Candlish, and he don't know quite what Dally Watlock can do when she's served like this." "Then I may trust you, Dally?" whispered Leo. "Trust me, miss?" said the girl, looking at her innocently; "why, of course you can." "To-night, then, after dark!" "Yes, miss, after dark; and if I'm asked for, you'll say you give me leave to go and see poor gran'fa, who isn't well." "Yes, Dally, I will." "And she's been to boarding school, and thinks herself clever," said Dally, as soon as she was alone. "Go after dark, miss? Yes, I will. They say people's soft when they're sick and weak. Perhaps so. Tom may be so now. After dark!" she muttered with a little cough. "Yes, miss; you may trust me! I'll go after dark!" Volume 3, Chapter II. MRS BERENS IS WOUNDED. "Is anything the matter, Mrs Berens?" "Matter, my dear Mary?" said the lady, in a piteous voice. "Oh, yes; but how beautiful and soft and patient you look!" She bent down and kissed the invalid, sighed, and wafted some scent about the room. "I'm a great deal worried, dear, about money matters, and--and other things." "Money, Mrs Berens? I thought you were rich." "Not rich, dear, but well off. But money is a great trouble; for Mr Thompson, my agent in London, worries me a great deal, investing and putting it for me somewhere else. He says I am wasting my opportunities--that he could double my income; and when he comes down, really, my dear, his attentions are too marked for those of a solicitor." "Mr Thompson is a relative of Dr North, is he not?" said Mary gravely. "Yes; he asked Dr North to introduce him, and the doctor did," said Mrs Berens ruefully. "But it was not about the money; it was about Dr North himself I came to speak." "Indeed!" said Mary, with a faint tinge of colour showing. "Yes, my dear; and I don't want you to think me a busybody, but I could not help noticing that he seemed attached to Leo; and it is troubling me for Leo's sake." "Will you speak plainly, Mrs Berens?" "Yes, dear; but you frighten me--you are so severe. There! I will speak out! Leo is engaged to Dr North, is she not?" "No," said Mary, after a pause; "there is no engagement." "Ah, then that makes it not quite so bad." "Mrs Berens!"