He had put the straw hat on, and seemed to be looking at the different flower beds in his progress; Madame Guise pointing to one and another with her finger. Had Mrs. Castlemaine caught but a word of the private conversation being carried on under the semblance of admiring the flowers, she might have stolen out to listen in the gratification of her curiosity. Which would not have served her, for they spoke in French. "How you startled me, George!" cried Madame Guise, as their heads were both bent over a rose-tree. "I thought I should have fainted. It might have made me discover all. Let us walk on!" "Well, I suppose I ought to have written first. But I thought I should be introduced to you alone--your being here as the governess." "How are they all at Gap?--Look at these carnations.--How is Emma? Did you get my letter through her?" "I got it when I reached Gap. They are all well. She gave me your letter and what news she could. I cannot understand it, Charlotte. Where is Anthony?" "Dead. Murdered. As I truly and fully believe." Mr. North lifted his hat and passed his white handkerchief across his brow, very perplexed and stern just then. "When can I see you alone, Charlotte?" "This evening. As soon as dusk sets in, I will meet you in Chapel Lane:" and she directed him where to find it. "You stay at the lower end near that great building almost in ruins, the Friar's Keep, and I will come to you. Are you here at last to help me unravel the treachery, George?" "I will try to do it." "But why have you been so tardy?--why did you go to--what did you say--those Channel Islands?" "I had an artist friend with me who would go over there. I did not care to show too much eagerness to come on to England--he might have suspected I had a motive. And it seems to me, Charlotte, that this investigation will be a most delicate business; one that a breath of suspicion, as to who I am, might defeat." "And oh, why did you linger so long in Italy, George?" she asked in a low tone of painful wailing. "And to have neglected for months to let us get an address that would certainly find you! Had you been at Gap when the father died, the probability is that Anthony and you would have made the journey here in company. Surely Mr. James Castlemaine had not dared to kill him then!" "Hush!" he answered in a voice more bitterly painful than her own. "You heard what I said just now in the salon: the regret, the self-reproach will only cease with my life. Until this evening then, Charlotte!" "Until this evening." "Who is that charming demoiselle?" he asked, as they shook hands in parting. "What relation is she to the house?" "No real relation of it at all. She is Miss Reene; Mrs. Castlemaine's stepdaughter. Mrs. Castlemaine was a widow when she married into the family." Mr. George North closed the gate behind him; took off his hat to Madame with the peculiar action of a Frenchman, and walked away. CHAPTER XXV. MR. GEORGE NORTH.