"Take my advice, Lady Level. Do not place yourself in Captain Cross's way, but do not run from him. I believe him to be a gentleman; and, if so, he will not say or do anything to annoy you. I will take care he does not, as long as I remain here." In the course of the morning Captain Cross and Arnold Ravensworth met. "I find Lady Level's here!" the Captain abruptly exclaimed. "Are you staying with her?" "I and my wife arrived here only last night, and were surprised to meet Lady Level." "Where's _he_?" asked Captain Cross. "In England." "He in England and she here, and only six months married! Estranged, I suppose. Well, what else could she expect? People mostly reap what they sow." Arnold Ravensworth laughed good-humouredly. _He_ was not going to give a hint of the state of affairs that he suspected himself. "You are prejudiced, Cross. Miss Heriot was not to blame for what happened. She was a child: and they did with her as they pleased." "A child! Old enough to engage herself to one man, and to marry another," retorted Captain Cross, in a burst of angry feeling. "And Level, of all people!"--with sarcastic scorn. "Why does he leave her in Germany whilst he stays gallivanting in England? What do you say? Met with an accident, and _can't_ come for her? That's _his_ tale, I suppose. You may repeat it to the Marines, old boy; it won't do for me. _I_ know Level; knew him of old." Lady Level was as good as her word: she did not stir out of her rooms all day. On the following morning when Mr. Ravensworth came out of his chamber, he saw, from the corridor window, a travelling-carriage in the yard, packed. By the coat-of-arms he knew it for Lord Level's. Timms moved towards him in a flutter of delight. "Oh, if you please, sir, breakfast is on the table, and my lady is waiting there, ready dressed. We are going to England, sir." "Has Lord Level come?" "No, sir: we are going with you. My lady gave orders, last night, to pack up for home. It is the happiest day I've known, sir, since I set foot in these barbarious countries." Lady Level met him at the door of the breakfast-room; "ready dressed," as Timms expressed it, for travelling, even to her bonnet. "Do you really mean to go with us?" he exclaimed. "Yes," was her decisive reply. "That is, you must go with me. Stay here longer, I will not. I tell you, Arnold, I am sick to death of it. If Lord Level is ill and unable to come for me, I am glad to embrace the opportunity of travelling under your protection: he can't grumble at that. Besides----" "Besides what?" asked Mr. Ravensworth, for she suddenly stopped. "I do not choose to remain at an inn in which Captain Cross has taken up his abode: neither would my husband wish me to do so. After you and Mrs. Ravensworth left me last night, I sat over the wood fire, thinking these things over, and made my mind up. If I have not sufficient money for the journey, and I don't think I have, I must apply to you, Arnold."