Manston--as I shall call her--twice as sweet in disposition,
three times as beautiful. Would he have given her up quietly and
suddenly for a common--Mr. Raunham, your story is monstrous, and I don't
believe it!' She glowed in her earnestness.

The rector might now have advanced his second proposition--the possible
motive--but for reasons of his own he did not.

'Very well, madam. I only hope that facts will sustain you in your
belief. Ask him the question to his face, whether the woman is his wife
or no, and see how he receives it.'

'I will to-morrow, most certainly,' she said. 'I always let these things
die of wholesome ventilation, as every fungus does.'

But no sooner had the rector left her presence, than the grain of
mustard-seed he had sown grew to a tree. Her impatience to set her
mind at rest could not brook a night's delay. It was with the utmost
difficulty that she could wait till evening arrived to screen her
movements. Immediately the sun had dropped behind the horizon, and
before it was quite dark, she wrapped her cloak around her, softly left
the house, and walked erect through the gloomy park in the direction of
the old manor-house.

The same minute saw two persons sit down in the rectory-house to
share the rector's usually solitary dinner. One was a man of official
appearance, commonplace in all except his eyes. The other was Edward
Springrove.

The discovery of the carefully-concealed letters rankled in the mind of
Anne Seaway. Her woman's nature insisted that Manston had no right to
keep all matters connected with his lost wife a secret from herself.
Perplexity had bred vexation; vexation, resentment; curiosity had been
continuous. The whole morning this resentment and curiosity increased.

The steward said very little to his companion during their luncheon
at mid-day. He seemed reckless of appearances--almost indifferent to
whatever fate awaited him. All his actions betrayed that something
portentous was impending, and still he explained nothing. By carefully
observing every trifling action, as only a woman can observe them,
the thought at length dawned upon her that he was going to run away
secretly. She feared for herself; her knowledge of law and justice was
vague, and she fancied she might in some way be made responsible for
him.

In the afternoon he went out of the house again, and she watched him
drive away in the direction of the county-town. She felt a desire to go
there herself,