(He had heard enough to satisfy him that the talk was not taking the direction which his Suspicions had anticipated. And, as an additional incentive to show himself, a happy chance had now offered him the opportunity of putting Julian in the wrong.) “Good heavens, Horace!” exclaimed Lady Janet. “Where did you come from? And what do you mean?” “I heard at the lodge that your ladyship and Grace had returned last night. And I came in at once without troubling the servants, by the shortest way.” He turned to Julian next. “The woman you were speaking of just now,” he proceeded, “has been here again already--in Lady Janet’s absence.” Lady Janet immediately looked at her nephew. Julian reassured her by a gesture. “Impossible,” he said. “There must be some mistake.” “There is no mistake,” Horace rejoined. “I am repeating what I have just heard from the lodge-keeper himself. He hesitated to mention it to Lady Janet for fear of alarming her. Only three days since this person had the audacity to ask him for her ladyship’s address at the sea-side. Of course he refused to give it.” “You hear that, Julian?” said Lady Janet. No signs of anger or mortification escaped Julian. The expression in his face at that moment was an expression of sincere distress. “Pray don’t alarm yourself,” he said to his aunt, in his quietest tones. “If she attempts to annoy you or Miss Roseberry again, I have it in my power to stop her instantly.” “How?” asked Lady Janet. “How, indeed!” echoed Horace. “If we give her in charge to the police, we shall become the subject of a public scandal.” “I have managed to avoid all danger of scandal,” Julian answered; the expression of distress in his face becoming more and more marked while he spoke. “Before I called here to-day I had a private consultation with the magistrate of the district, and I have made certain arrangements at the police station close by. On receipt of my card, an experienced man, in plain clothes, will present himself at any address that I indicate, and will take her quietly away. The magistrate will hear the charge in his private room, and will examine the evidence which I can produce, showing that she is not accountable for her actions. The proper medical officer will report officially on the case, and the law will place her under the necessary restraint.” Lady Janet and Horace looked at each other in amazement. Julian was, in their opinion, the last man on earth to take the course--at once sensible and severe--which Julian had actually adopted. Lady Janet insisted on an explanation. “Why do I hear of this now for the first time?” she asked. “Why did you not tell me you had taken these precautions before?” Julian answered frankly and sadly.