Meanwhile Blagdon, with his hands in his pockets, stood in the window of the hall, which commanded a full view of the short entrance drive, his eyes fixed on the receding figure. When he saw her approach and pass through the great gates, making her final and ignominious exit, he muttered under his breath, “She’s _gone_!” and then he went back to the smoking-room, selected one of his best cigars, and sat down to meditate upon his future plans. Frances Lumley, who happened to be crossing the village square, halted when she beheld her friend. What had happened? Why this white, stricken face? She held out her hand, and enquired: “Is anything the matter?” For a moment the unhappy girl seemed to choke; then--she stammered: “Yes--Hugo has just turned me out of the house.” “Turned you out! Oh, my poor Letty! Then you will come home with me, of course?” And as she spoke, she took her arm. It was but a few yards to the Rectory, and as they walked up the avenue, Letty halted abruptly, and said: “I don’t think I should come _here_,” releasing her friend, and supporting herself by a railing that bordered the drive. “Nonsense!” “But, Frances, you don’t know. It was because of your brother that--that--Hugo has cast me off.” “Because of _Lancelot_!” exclaimed Miss Lumley, suddenly disconcerted; her colour rose, her eyes dilated. “Yes,” said Letty, and then--she added, in short, gasping sentences: “I ran away to him yesterday to London--but I changed my mind. I could not desert Cara.--I came back. Hugo had returned suddenly, and read my letter, and took me by the shoulders, thrust me out, and slammed the door on me. I feel sure he will try and divorce me!” Frances’ clear mind grasped a subject quickly. What a disastrous affair for Lancelot! What was to be done? Obviously the first step was to take Letty into the house--she looked ghastly. “Brother or no brother,” she said--stifling her own dismay--“you must come and stay with us, and pull yourself together. Matters may not be as bad as you think.” “They are--and it’s all my fault. I have ruined your brother, and disgraced myself, and Cara!” This speech brought her into the Rectory door, which stood wide, and she tottered into a chair in the hall, and fainted away. As soon as the refugee had been restored and put to bed in the spare room, Frances, a woman of action, wrote off to Mrs. Hesketh and to her brother, and despatched a note to Bates at the Court with a request for Mrs. Blagdon’s luggage. Then she proceeded to explain matters to her invalid father, who was enchanted to hear that Mrs. Blagdon was staying with them--though he could not quite understand how it was, that she should be in his house and not her own; but his resourceful daughter satisfied his curiosity, and told a lie, with the one simple word ‘Drains!’