ay, and I am convinced that the first step
towards the discovery would be to put Mr. Belamour under restraint, and
separate his black from him. Then one or other of them would speak, and
we might know how she has been played upon."

"What does your Ladyship suppose then?" asked the Major.

"This is what I imagine. The poor silly maid repents herself and comes
back in search of me. Would that she had found me, her best friend! But
instead of that, she falls in with old Belamour, and he, having by this
time perceived the danger of the perilous masquerade in which he had
involved my unlucky boy, a minor, has mewed her up somewhere, till the
cry should be over."

"That would be the part of a villain, but scarcely of a madman," said
Betty dryly.

"My dear cousin Betty, there are lunatics endowed with a marvellous
shrewdness to commit senseless villanies, and to put on a specious
seeming. Depend upon it, my unfortunate brother-in-law's wanderings at
night were not solely spent in communings with the trees and brooks. Who
knows what might be discovered if he were under proper restraint? And it
is to you, the only relation I have, that I must turn for assistance in
my most unhappy circumstances," she added, wit a glance so full of sweet
helplessness that no man could withstand it. "I am so glad you are here.
You will be acting for me as well as for yourself in endeavouring to
find your poor lovely child, and the first thing I would have done would
be to separate Belamour and his black, put them under restraint, and
interrogate them separately. You could easily get an order from a
magistrate. But ah, here comes my woman. No more now. You will come to
me this evening, and we can talk further on this matter. I shall have
some company, and it will not be a regular rout, only a few card-tables,
and a little dancing for the young people."

"Your ladyship must excuse me," said Betty, "I have no dress to appear
in, even if I had spirits for the company."

"Ah! my dear cousin, how do you think it is with my spirits? Yet I think
it my duty not to allow myself to be moped, but to exert myself for the
interest of my son. While as to dress, my woman can direct you to the
milliner who would equip you in the last mode. What, still obstinate?
Nay, then, Harry, I can take no excuse from you, and I may have been
able to collect some intelligence from the servants."

Nothing remained but to take leave and walk home, the Major observing--