'She is well, active, and as good as ever. There is not a woman for miles about more respected than Mrs. Jose. I may even say, more beloved.' 'Very pleased to hear it, and suitable to one in her situation. Oh! thank you, Sylvana. This is most considerate of you. How can I have been so neglectful as to leave my pocket-kerchief behind. I fear my memory is not what it was.' To Jack: 'I have had trials that wear a lady.' She then accepted the handkerchief from her daughter, and at the same time closed her fingers and thumb over the change, and passed it into the palm of her hand. Then to Jack: 'You will be so good as to thank Mrs. Jose on my behalf.' 'Would it not be more gracious, mamma,' said Sylvana, 'for you to write? It might, you know, extract further favours.' 'My dear!' Mrs. Tomkin-Jones frowned, then, 'Ah, to be sure. I was intending to do so. The ink and a blotting book are in the room, but the pens are cross-nibbed. However, I trust I shall manage――oh!' The exclamation was elicited by the fall of the sixpence from her hand upon the floor. But Mrs. T.-J. was equal to the occasion; fixing the eyes of the visitor, she placed her foot on the coin, and executed that _pas_ termed by the dancing-master a _chasse_; and so reached the writing-table with the sixpence carried along under her sole. She seated herself and began to write. 'I beg pardon,' said Jack Rattenbury, 'but may I be permitted to see Miss Holwood? I am the bearer of a message to her.' 'From Mrs. Marley?' asked Sylvana sharply. 'No, miss, from Mrs. Jose.' 'I suppose that you are acquainted with Mrs. Marley?' inquired Miss Jones. 'I have seen her,' answered Rattenbury. 'But you know something about her, I presume?' 'As to her age?' 'No,' retorted Sylvana with sharpness. 'As to who she was, whence she came, what her circumstances.' 'She was certainly at one time younger than she is now; she lives on one side of the Axe,' answered the young man, without a muscle in his face changing, 'and there exists a ferry between the Axmouth and the Seaton side. I am at Beer, two miles distant from Seaton, and Seaton lies a quarter of a mile from the landing-stage of the ferry.' Sylvana bit her lip. Was he stupid? 'Is Miss Holwood in?' he asked. 'No, she is not,' snapped Miss Jones. 'She is out at present with her father.' 'Her father!' Jack let the words escape in an accent of surprise. 'I suppose you know Mr. Holwood?' queried she. 'No, miss, I have never seen him.' 'But you have heard of him?' 'One has, of course, taken it for granted, if there is a Miss Holwood, that there is a Mr. Holwood also.' Jack was aware that he was being pumped. It was done clumsily. He was conscious that, if pumped, it would be well for Winefred's sake that he should not reveal all that he knew. Sylvana knitted her brows. 'You must have heard Mrs. Marley talked about?' 'Really, miss,' said Jack, 'at our works the men talk mostly of politics, and leave scandal for women.'