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 hold her tongue. "Your brother has
insulted me," she said to Randal. He was weak enough to attempt to make
an explanation. "I was speaking of my brother's wife," he said. "Your
brother's wife has allowed me to be insulted." Having received that
reply, Randal could only wonder. This woman went to church every Sunday,
and kept a New Testament, bound in excellent taste, on her toilet-table!
The occasion suggested reflection on the system which produces average
Christians at the present time. Nothing more was said by Mrs. Presty;
Mrs. Linley remained absorbed in her own bitter thoughts. In silence
they waited for the return of the carriage, and the appearance of the
governess.

Chapter XVIII. The Nursemaid.

Pale, worn, haggard with anxiety, Sydney Westerfield entered the room,
and looked once more on the faces which she had resigned herself never
to see again. She appeared to be hardly conscious of the kind reception
which did its best to set her at her ease.

"Am I in time?" were the first words that escaped her on entering the
room. Reassured by the answer, she turned back to the door, eager to
hurry upstairs to Kitty's bedside.

Mrs. Linley's gentle hand detained her.

The doctor had left certain instructions, warning the mother to guard
against any accident that might remind Kitty of the day on which Sydney
had left her. At the