Linley.' You must not think of beginning to teach Kitty till you
feel stronger and better. I see but too plainly that you have not
been happy. Don't think of your past life, or speak of your past
life."

"Forgive me, Mrs. Linley; my past life is my one excuse for
having ventured to come into this house."

"In what way, my dear?"

At the moment when that question was put, the closed curtains
which separated the breakfast-room from the library were softly
parted in the middle. A keen old face, strongly marked by
curiosity and distrust, peeped through--eyed the governess with
stern scrutiny--and retired again into hiding.

The introduction of a stranger (without references) into the
intimacy of the family circle was, as Mrs. Presty viewed it, a
crisis in domestic history. Conscience, with its customary
elasticity, adapted itself to the emergency, and Linley's
mother-in-law stole information behind the curtain--in Linley's
best interests, it is quite needless to say.

The talk of the two ladies went on, without a suspicion on either
side that it was overheard by a third person.

Sydney explained herself.

"If I had led a happier life," she said, "I might have been able
to resist Mr. Linley's kindness. I concealed nothing from him. He