The boy's recovery was tedious, and he clung to his new nurse, turning fractiously from Mrs. Keith. Mr. Wallace stayed longer than he had intended in the neighbourhood, and both he and the German doctor insisted on the child remaining where he was. Then Mr. Penrhyn appeared, and saw the children under their new names. He was not an astute man, and though he remarked how differently they had developed from what he would have expected, no suspicion entered his mind. After this, reversion to the old order became a hundredfold more difficult, especially when Mr. Penrhyn, with new determination, insisted on the boy being brought to England and having a home near Castle Hill. Since he was guardian, Mrs. Keith dared not resist. It was evident that he no longer trusted her wisdom, after the mistake she had made in remaining so long in the south. And still she said to herself that it was only for a while—that in time all must be put straight. Some way would open. Some opportunity would turn up. Speak now she "could" not! Shame herself in the eyes of her little world she "would" not! She did not see how perplexities would thicken, how her little world would widen, how explanation would become more impossible. Thus soothing her conscience with the thought of "by-and-by," she became in a manner used to the state of affairs, though by fits and starts she underwent much misery. At seasons the deceit—the wrong to one child, the false position of the other—seemed awful beyond words. Then again for weeks she would acquiesce with a dull content, trying to persuade herself that things were just as well so, since Colin—the real Giles—was far from robust, and Giles—the real Colin—was vigorous in body and mind. The little one's severe illness had altered him. In their infancy, though of different make, people had often said that the two might be taken for brothers. Nobody now spoke of them as alike, and this added to the extreme difficulty of reversion. No one who had seen them since that illness could be a second time deceived. To make matters worse, the young doctor, Mr. Wallace, who had been called in to see the boy, took the practice at Castlemere, and thenceforward was always at hand. Perhaps it was hardly surprising, though he was not responsible, that Mrs. Keith detested him. Thus coil within coil she was bound, and she drifted on till all idea of restitution was put off to a dim distance. Things were thus; and thus, she told herself, they had to remain.