ve run down to let him in--and perhaps been sorry for it
afterward. If you really wish to forget him, my dear, I will do all I
can to help you.'

"These are trifling things to mention, but I am afraid you may think I
am unhappy--and I want to prevent that.

"I have so much to be thankful for, and the children are so fond of me.
Whether I teach them as well as I might have done, if I had been a more
learned girl, may perhaps be doubtful. They do more for their governess,
I am afraid, than their governess does for them. When they come into my
room in the morning, and rouse me with their kisses, the hour of waking,
which used to be so hard to endure after Philip left me, is now the
happiest hour of my day."

With that reassuring view of her life as a governess, the poor child's
letter comes to an end.

CHAPTER LI. THE TRIUMPH OF MRS. TENBRUGGEN.

Miss Jillgall appears again, after an interval, on the field of my
extracts. My pleasant friend deserves this time a serious reception. She
informs me that Mrs. Tenbruggen has begun the inquiries which I have the
best reason to dread--for I alone know the end which they are designed
to reach.

The arrival of this news affected me in two different ways.

It was discouraging to find that circumstances had not justified my
reliance on Helena's enmity as a counter-influence to Mrs. Tenbruggen.
On the other hand, it was a relief to be assured that my return to
London would serve, rather than compromise, the interests which it was
my chief anxiety to defend. I had foreseen that Mrs. Tenbruggen would
wait to set her enterprise on foot, until I was out of her way; and I
had calculated on my absence as an event which would at least put an end
to suspense by encouraging her to begin.

The first sentences in Miss Jillgall's letter explain the nature of her
interest in the proceedings of her friend, and are, on that account,
worth reading.

"Things are sadly changed for the worse" (Selina writes); "but I don't
forget that Philip was once engaged to Euneece, and that Mr. Gracedieu's
extraordinary conduct toward him puzzled us all. The mode of discovery
which dear Elizabeth suggested by letter, at that time, appears to be
the mode which she is following now. When I asked why, she said: 'Philip
may return to Euneece; the Minister may recover--and will be all the
more likely to do so if he tries Massage. In that case, he will probably
repeat the conduct which surprised you; and y