Seaton went there and told them they were being imposed upon by a shameless young woman. It was a hard thing to do, and she might have held her tongue, but that is not Mrs. Seaton's way. Once she takes a grudge against a body she don't let them alone, not she. While she was, with the old maids talking against Miss Braham, the young lady herself heard it, it seems, and she ran away, no one knew where to. Mr. Gerald, who must have been very much in love with her, was in a dreadful way about her, and the lawyers were busy trying to find her; and his step-brother, Mr. Leonard, who had come home from Australia that very morning, helped him, too. Then the two brothers went away together, and nothing was heard of them, or of Miss Braham, for months and months, till it got about that poor Mr. Gerald had been killed by falling over a precipice in foreign parts. Then Mr. Leonard came home, and took possession of the property, which all fell to him. What did he do with it? He sold it all off, and went to London to live, and that's where he is now, for all she knew. It was a lot of money he came into; some say as much as five or six thousand pounds a year, but he was just the sort of gentleman to make ducks and drakes with it. That was the whole story of the two brothers and Miss Emilia Braham. You would like to know something more! What is it? When Mr. Leonard Paget came home didn't he say anything about Miss Braham? No, not a word, so far as she knew, and she would have been sure to hear of it if he had. No, she was positive he never said one single word about her. She did not suppose he knew what became of her, and most likely, after a time, he forgot her altogether. Then the garrulous shopwoman, having exhausted her budget, reckoned up the purchases which Emilia had made, and having received payment, bade her customer good day. Emilia's next visit was to a flower shop, where she bought some loose flowers; then to the churchyard, where she was directed to the grave of the maiden sisters. She knelt and prayed there, and left the flowers on their grave. She had learned that Leonard was in London, and as there was no occasion for her to remain any longer in the town she took an earlier train than that she had marked, and arrived home four hours before Constance expected her. Reflecting upon her situation during that night, she felt how powerless she was. Leonard, she had every reason to believe, was in London, but to look for him in that vast city in the hope of finding him was scarcely within reason. And, indeed, had she not been befriended by some strange chance she might have remained in London for years without meeting the man for whom she was seeking. But it happened so, and an important stage was reached in her inquiry.