"The Lord be praised!" Mrs. Ellmother burst out--and then, when it was
too late, remembered the conventional restraints appropriate to the
occasion. "Gracious, what a fool I am!" she said to herself. "Beautiful
weather, Miss Emily, isn't it?" she continued, in a desperate hurry to
change the subject.

Emily reclined again in her corner of the carriage. She smiled, for the
first time since she had become Mrs. Delvin's guest at the tower.

BOOK THE LAST--AT HOME AGAIN.

CHAPTER LXV. CECILIA IN A NEW CHARACTER.

Reaching the cottage at night, Emily found the card of a visitor who
had called during the day. It bore the name of "Miss Wyvil," and had a
message written on it which strongly excited Emily's curiosity.

"I have seen the telegram which tells your servant that you return
to-night. Expect me early to-morrow morning--with news that will deeply
interest you."

To what news did Cecilia allude? Emily questioned the woman who had been
left in charge of the cottage, and found that she had next to nothing to
tell. Miss Wyvil had flushed up, and had looked excited, when she read
the telegraphic message--that was all. Emily's impatience was, as usual,
not to be concealed. Expert Mrs. Ellmother treated the case in the right
way--first with supper, and then with an adjournment to bed. The clock
struck twelve, when she put out the young mistress's candle. "Ten hours
to pass before Cecilia comes here!" Emily exclaimed. "Not ten minutes,"
Mrs. Ellmother reminded her, "if you will only go to sleep."

Cecilia arrived before the breakfast-table was cleared; as lovely,
as gentle, as affectionate as ever--but looking unusually serious and
subdued.

"Out with it at once!" Emily cried. "What have you got to tell me?'

"Perhaps, I had better tell you first," Cecilia said, "that I know what
you kept from me when I came here, after you left us at Monksmoor. Don't
think, my dear, that I say this by way of complaint. Mr. Alban Morris
says you had good reasons for keeping your secret."

"Mr. Alban Morris! Did you get your information from _him?_"

"Yes. Do I surprise you?"

"More than words can tell!"

"Can you bear another surprise? Mr. Morris has seen Miss Jethro, and
has discovered that Mr. Mirabel has been wrongly suspected of a dreadful
crime. Our amiable little clergyman is guilty of being a coward--and
guilty of nothing else. Are you really quiet enough to read about it?"

She produced some leaves of paper fil