conjecture confirmed by Mr. Flight's countenance.

"I am afraid it is the least distressing--the least unsatisfactory
idea," said he, in much agitation. "I thought Mr. Delrio an
excellent young man; and she," indicating his companion, "tells me
you know him and his family well."

"Oh, yes," said Agatha and Magdalen in one breath. "We have known
his father all our lives. Nothing can be more respectable."

"And Hubert is as steady and good as possible," continued Agatha.
"His mother used to come to Mrs. Best and praise him, till we were
quite tired of his name; I am sure he is all right."

"Or I should be much deceived in him," said the clergyman.

Yet there was an idea in Paulina's mind. Could Vera have poured out
such an exaggerated tale of oppression and unhappiness as to have
induced her old playfellow to carry her off to his mother at Filsted?
She had given some such hint to Mr. Flight on the way; but he had not
seemed to hear or attend, and he was now promising to let the sisters
know as soon as possible in the morning whether anything had been
discovered, and to telegraph to Filsted and to the office in London
if he should see occasion.

Then he drove off, in what would have been almost daylight but for
the pelting of the storm; and after a vain attempt to make Paula
swallow some nourishment, Magdalen thought it kinder to let Agatha
carry her off to bed, and then she confessed, what really gave a
certain hope, that the pair had been in the habit of murmuring