your discretion, which you have placed
in mine, I now inclose the references and testimonials which Miss Jethro
submitted to me, when she presented herself to fill the vacant situation
in my school.

"I earnestly request you to lose no time in instituting the confidential
inquiries which you have volunteered to make. Whatever the result may
be, pray return to me the inclosures which I have trusted to your care,
and believe me, dear madam, in much suspense and anxiety, sincerely
yours,

"AMELIA LADD."

It is needless to describe, at any length, the impression which these
lines produced on the doctor.

If he had heard what Emily had heard at the time of her aunt's last
illness, he would have called to mind Miss Letitia's betrayal of her
interest in some man unknown, whom she believed to have been beguiled
by Miss Jethro--and he would have perceived that the vindictive hatred,
thus produced, must have inspired the letter of denunciation which the
schoolmistress had acknowledged. He would also have inferred that Miss
Letitia's inquiries had proved her accusation to be well founded--if
he had known of the new teacher's sudden dismissal from the school. As
things were, he was merely confirmed in his bad opinion of Miss Jethro;
and he was induced, on reflection, to keep his discovery to himself.

"If poor Miss Emily saw the old lady exhibited in the character of an
informer," he thought, "what a blow would be struck at her innocent
respect for the memory of her aunt!"

CHAPTER XIX. SIR JERVIS REDWOOD.

In the meantime, Emily, left by herself, had her own correspondence to
occupy her attention. Besides the letter from Cecilia (directed to the
care of Sir Jervis Redwood), she had received some lines addressed to
her by Sir Jervis himself. The two inclosures had been secured in a
sealed envelope, directed to the cottage.

If Alban Morris had been indeed the person trusted as messenger by Sir
Jervis, the conclusion that followed filled Emily with overpowering
emotions of curiosity and surprise.

Having no longer the motive of serving and protecting her, Alban must,
nevertheless, have taken the journey to Northumberland. He must have
gained Sir Jervis Redwood's favor and confidence--and he might even
have been a guest at the baronet's country seat--when Cecilia's letter
arrived. What did it mean?

Emily looked back at her experience of her last day at school, and
recalled her consultation with Alban on the sub