Something was said about a picture in the adjoining room--Philip Cleeve declaring that one of the photographs resembled it. The three younger members of the party went into the room to solve the question, leaving Mrs. Carlyon and the Vicar at their game. Hubert Stone saw his chance; he made a bold stroke, emerged from his hiding-place, silently crossed the room, and quitted it. "Who on earth was that?" exclaimed the Vicar. "Who was what?" asked Mrs. Carlyon, who sat with her back to the windows and saw nothing. "Some tall young fellow crossed the room from the window. How did he come in? It looked like Hubert Stone. Yes; I am sure it was he." "Oh, then he had probably come in to ask some question or other of his mistress; and seeing visitors here, went out again," decided Mrs. Carlyon with composure. "A well-mannered young man, very, that; might be taken by anyone for a gentleman." And so the evening came to an end, and Mr. Conroy departed again. The next departure was that of Mrs. Carlyon. But not before a chaperon had been fixed upon for the young mistress of Heron Dyke. Their choice fell upon a Mrs. Toynbee; who was engaged, and arrived at the Hall. She was a slender, sedate-looking lady of fifty, the widow of a certain Major Toynbee. Her credentials were unexceptionable, and her terms high. Ella did not much like her; but, as she said to herself, we can't have everything just as we like it in this life. She was kind and gracious to Mrs. Toynbee, as she was to everyone, and that lady soon made herself at home. Meanwhile Mr. Hubert Stone was having, as the schoolboys say, rather a bad time of it. That Conroy was in love with Miss Winter and she with him, seemed to him clear as the light of day. Could he frustrate this love? he would ask himself as he paced restlessly the solitary glades of the park. He knew something which was unknown to them: a great secret, which neither of them so much as dreamt of. Could he make use of this knowledge, dangerous though it might be, to part them? He believed he might. Anyway, it was a thing to be thought of. CHAPTER VIII. WHAT DOROTHY SAW IN THE SHRUBBERY. Ella Winter felt dull after her aunt's departure; the Hall seemed more lonely than ever. Although that estimable lady, Mrs. Toynbee, might do very well to fill the position of chaperon and housekeeper-in-chief, she could never be anything more to Miss Winter. Now it was that she missed the presence of Maria Kettle: who was still at Leamington with Mrs. Page. She heard from Maria often, but that was not like seeing her. One thing Ella could do, and did; she took an active interest in the welfare of Maria's school, and of the poor old people at whose cottages Maria was so frequent a visitor when at home. Ella did more than that, she instructed Philip Cleeve to draw up plans of a new wing for the school which she determined to build at her own expense, and as a welcome surprise for Maria when she should return.