"Hold your tongue!"

"Do you hear that?" Mrs. Presty asked, appealing indignantly to
her daughter.

Linley took his hat. "At what time do you expect Miss Westerfield
to arrive?" he said to his wife.

She looked at the clock on the mantelpiece. "Before the half-hour
strikes. Don't be alarmed," she added, with an air of ironical
sympathy; "you will have time to make your escape."

He advanced to the door, and looked at her.

"One thing I beg you will remember," he said. "Every half-hour
while I am away (I am going to the farm) you are to send and let
me know how Kitty is--and especially if Miss Westerfield
justifies the experiment which the doctor has advised us to try."

Having given those instructions he went out.

The sofa was near Mrs. Linley. She sank on it, overpowered by the
utter destruction of the hopes that she had founded on the
separation of Herbert and the governess. Sydney Westerfield was
still in possession of her husband's heart!

Her mother was surely the right person to say a word of comfort
to her. Randal made the suggestion--with the worst possible
result. Mrs. Presty had not forgotten that she had been told--at
her age, in her position as the widow of a Cabinet Minister--to