t make a
correct stitch. I knew that I ought to have been calm, that I was
imperiling my secret every moment. When at last she spoke to me, I made
a great effort to control my tone.

"Lord Lumley said nothing to you, I suppose, Margharita, about going
away?"

"Nothing whatever," I answered quietly. "He would be scarcely likely to
mention his plans to me and not to you or Lord St. Maurice."

I was forced to look up, and I met her eyes fixed upon me with a look
which I had seen there once or twice before. It was almost a look of
fear, as though she saw in my face something which aroused a host of
sad, dimly-veiled memories. Was she wondering whether the presence of a
Marioni in her house boded ill-fortune to herself and those who were
dear to her? It may have been so.

She did not answer immediately, and I took advantage of the pause to
leave the room. I could not bear to talk to her.

Ought I not to have been glad at all this--to have watched her pale,
suffering face with satisfaction, and even with inward joy. Was she not
in trouble greater than any I could bring upon her, and, indeed, had I
not had a hand in it? Was it not I who had driven her son out into this
danger? Should I not have rejoiced? Alas! alas! how could I, when my own
heart was beating fast in a very agony of sickening fear.

My little pupil was away for the day--gone to play with the clergyman's
children down in the village, and my time was my own. I was thankful,
for I could not possibly have forced myself into the wearisome routine
of lesson hearing and teaching. Solitude was my only relief.

The day wore on. Servants had been sent to every point along the coast,
and the harbor master at Yarmouth had been telegraphed to every hour. I
stood by my window, looking out in the fast gathering twilight, until I
could bear it no longer. Dashing the tears from my face, I caught up a
thick cloak, and running softly down the back stairs, left the house
unobserved.

At first I could scarcely stand, and, indeed, as I turned the corner of
the avenue and faced the sea, a gust of wind carried me off from my
feet, and I had to cling to the low iron railings for support. The
thunder of the storm and the waves seemed to shake the air around me.
The sky was dark and riven with faint flashes of stormlight, which
slanted down to the sea. By hard struggling I managed to make my way on
to the cliffs, and stood there, looking downward, with my arm passed
round a tal