villages in England, and to the house of Mrs. Stanbury of all
ladies in England. And then was she innocent, or was she guilty; and
if guilty, in what degree? That she had been allowed to bring her
baby with her was considered to be a great point in her favour. Mr.
Crumbie's opinion was that it was "only a few words." Mrs. Crumbie
was afraid that she had been a little light. Mrs. MacHugh said that
there was never fire without smoke. And Miss Stanbury, as she took
her departure, declared that the young women of the present day
didn't know what they were after. "They think that the world should
be all frolic and dancing, and they have no more idea of doing their
duty and earning their bread than a boy home for the holidays has of
doing lessons."

Then, as she went home with Dorothy across the Close, she spoke a
word which she intended to be very serious. "I don't mean to say
anything against your mother for what she has done as yet. Somebody
must take the woman in, and perhaps it was natural. But if that
Colonel What's-his-name makes his way down to Nuncombe Putney, your
mother must send her packing, if she has any respect either for
herself or for Priscilla."

CHAPTER XVI.

DARTMOOR.

[Illustration]

The well-weighed decision of Miss Stanbury respecting the
Stanbury-Trevelyan arrangement at Nuncombe Putney had been
communicated to Dorothy as the two walked home at night across the
Close from Mrs. MacHugh's house, and it was accepted by Dorothy
as being wise and proper. It amounted to this. If Mrs. Trevelyan
should behave herself with propriety in her retirement at the Clock
House, no further blame in the matter should be attributed to Mrs.
Stanbury for receiving her,--at any rate in Dorothy's hearing. The
existing scheme, whether wise or foolish, should be regarded as an
accepted scheme. But if Mrs. Trevelyan should be indiscreet,--if,
for instance, Colonel Osborne should show himself at Nuncombe
Putney,--then, for the sake of the family, Miss Stanbury would speak
out, and would speak out very loudly. All this Dorothy understood,
and she could perceive that her aunt had strong suspicion that there
would be indiscretion.

"I never knew one like her," said Miss Stanbury, "who, when she'd got
away from one man, didn't want to have another dangling after her."

A week had hardly passed after the party at Mrs. MacHugh's, and Mrs.
Trevelyan had hardly been three weeks at Nuncombe Putney, before the
tiding