straint. I was actually indelicate enough to ask if I might go
with him! He stared at me, as well he might. I persisted; I said I
particularly wished to see Lady Claudia. My uncle's punctilious good
breeding still resisted me. "Your aunt may wish to speak to me in
private," he said. "Wait a moment, and I will send for you."

I was incapable of waiting: my obstinacy was something superhuman. The
bare idea that Michael might lose his place, through my fault, made me
desperate, I suppose. "I won't trouble you to send for me," I persisted;
"I will go with you at once as far as the door, and wait to hear if I
may come in." The footman was still present, holding the door open; the
General gave way. I kept so close behind him that my aunt saw me as
her husband entered the room. "Come in, Mina," she said, speaking and
looking like the charming Lady Claudia of everyday life. Was this the
woman whom I had seen crying her heart out on the sofa hardly an hour
ago?

"On second thoughts," she continued, turning to the General, "I fear
I may have been a little hasty. Pardon me for troubling you about it
again--have you spoken to Michael yet? No? Then let us err on the side
of kindness; let us look over his misconduct this time."

My uncle was evidently relieved. I seized the opportunity of making my
confession, and taking the whole blame on myself. Lady Claudia stopped
me with the perfect grace of which she was mistress.

"My good child, don't distress yourself! don't make mountains out of
molehills!" She patted me on the cheek with two plump white fingers
which felt deadly cold. "I was not always prudent, Mina, when I was your
age. Besides, your curiosity is naturally excited about a servant who
is--what shall I call him?--a foundling."

She paused and fixed her eyes on me attentively. "What did he tell you?"
she asked. "Is it a very romantic story?"

The General began to fidget in his chair. If I had kept my attention on
him, I should have seen in his face a warning to me to be silent. But
my interest at the moment was absorbed in my aunt. Encouraged by her
amiable reception, I was not merely unsuspicious of the trap that she
had set for me--I was actually foolish enough to think that I could
improve Michael's position in her estimation (remember that I was in
love with him!) by telling his story exactly as I have already told it
in these pages. I spoke with fervor. Will you believe it?--her humor
positively changed again! She