cy. Leave me to sift this matter; give no note
anywhere that we suspect. Observe this reserve and security, and with it
detection will follow. Breathe but one word, and you arm the guilty with
double caution, and turn licentious gossip loose upon the fame of an
innocent and troubled family. Once more I entreat--I expect--I implore
silence--silence, at least, for the present--silence!"

"I quite agree with you, my dear Mr. Marston," answered Dr. Danvers. "I
have not divulged one syllable of that poor wretch's confession, save to
yourself alone. You, as a magistrate, a relative of the murdered
gentleman, and the head of that establishment among whom the guilt
rests, are invested with an interest in detecting, and powers of sifting
the truth in this matter, such as none other possesses. I clearly see,
with you, too, the inexpediency and folly of talking, for talking's
sake, of this affair. I mean to keep my counsel, and shall most
assuredly, irrespectively even of your request--which should, however,
of course, have weight with me--maintain a strict and cautious silence
upon this subject."

Some little time longer they remained together, and Marston, buried in
strange thoughts, took his leave, and rode slowly back to Gray Forest.

Months passed away--a year, and more--and though no new character
appeared upon the stage, the relations which had subsisted among the old
ones became, in some respects, very materially altered. A gradual and
disagreeable change came over Mademoiselle de Barras's manner; her
affectionate attentions to Mrs. Marston became less and less frequent;
nor was the change merely confined to this growing coldness; there was
something of a positive and still more unpleasant kind in the alteration
we have noted. There was a certain independence and carelessness,
conveyed in a hundred intangible but significant little incidents and
looks--a something which, without being open to formal rebuke or
remonstrance, yet bordered, in effect, upon impertinence, and even
insolence. This indescribable and provoking self-assertion, implied in
glances, tones, emphasis, and general bearing, surprised Mrs. Marston far
more than it irritated her. As often as she experienced one of these
studied slights or insinuated impertinences, she revolved in her own mind
all the incidents of their past intercourse, in the vain endeavor to
recollect some one among them which could possibly account for the
offensive change so manifest i