the lake—- without, however, venturing near
enough to the boat-house to be witness of
what took place there. When Anne returned
for the last time from the dangerous
neighbourhood, the fatigue of walking, day after
day, distances which were far too great for her
strength, added to the exhausting effect of the
agitation from which she had suttered, produced
the result which Mrs. Clements had dreaded all
along. The old pain over the heart and the
other symptoms of the illness at Grimsby
returned and Anne was confined to her bed in
the cottage.

In this emergency, the first necessity, as Mrs.
Clements knew by experience, was to endeavour
to quiet Anne's anxiety of mind; and, for this
purpose, the good woman went herself the next
day to the lake, to try if she could find Lady
Glyde (who would be sure, as Anne said, to take
her daily walk to the boat-house), and prevail on
her to come back privately to the cottage near
Sandon. On reaching the outskirts of the plantation,
Mrs. Clements encountered, not Lady Glyde,
but a tall, stout, elderly gentleman with a book
in his hand—- in other words, Count Fosco.

The Count, after looking at her very attentively
for a moment, asked if she expected to
see any one in that place; and added, before she
could reply, that he was waiting there with a
message from Lady Glyde, but that he was not
quite certain whether the person then before
him answered the description of the person with
whom he was desired to communicate. Upon
this, Mrs. Clements at once confided her errand
to him, aud entreated that he would help to allay
Anne's anxiety by trusting his message to her.
The Count most readily and kindly complied
with her request. The message, he said, was a
most important one. Lady Glyde entreated
Anne and her good friend to return immediately
to London, as she felt certain that Sir Percival
would discover them, if they remained any longer
in the neighbourhood of Blackwater. She was
herself going to London in a short time; and if
Mrs. Clements and Anne would go there first,
and would let her know what their address was,
they should hear from her and see her, in a
fortnight or less. The Count added, that he had
already attempted to give a friendly warning
to Anne herself, but that she had been too much
startled by seeing that he was a stranger, to let
him approach and speak to her.

To this, Mrs. Clements replied, in the greatest
alarm and distress, that she asked nothing better
than to take Anne safely to London; but that
there was no present hope of removing her from
the dangerous neighbourhood, as she lay ill in
her bed at that moment. The Count inquired
if Mrs. Clements had sent for medical advice;
and, hearing that she had hitherto hesitated to
do so, from the fear of making their position
publicly known in the village, informed her that
he was himself a medical man, and that, he would
go back with her, if she pleased, and see what
could be done for Anne. Mrs. Clements (feeling
a natural confidence in the Count, as a person
trusted with a secret message from Lady
Glyde) gratefully accepted the offer; and they
went back together to the cottage.

Anne was asleep when they got there. The
Count started at the sight of her (evidently from
astonishment at her resemblance to Lady Glyde).
Poor Mrs. Clements supposed that he was only
shocked to see how ill she was. He would not
allow her to be awakened; he was contented
with putting questions to Mrs. Clements about
her symptoms, with looking at her, and with
lightly touching her pulse. Sandon was a large
enough place to have a grocer's and druggist's
shop in it; and thither the Count went, to write
his prescription and to get the medicine made
up. He brought it back himself; and told Mrs.
Clements that the medicine was a powerful
stimulant, and that it would certainly give Anne
strength to get up and bear the fatigue of a
journey to London of only a few hours. The
remedy was to be administered at stated times,
on that day, and on the day after. On the third
day she would be well enough to travel; and he
arranged to meet Mrs. Clements at the Blackwater
station, and to see them off by the mid-day
train. If they did not appear, he would assume
that Anne was worse, and would proceed at once
to the cottage.

As events turned out, however, no such
emergency as this occurred. The medicine had an
extraordinary effect on Anne, and the good
results of it were helped by the assurance Mrs.
Clements could now give her that she would
soon see Lady Glyde in London. At the
appointed day and time (when they had not been
quite so long as a week in Hampshire,
altogether), they arrived at the station. The Count
was waiting there for them, and was talking to
an elderly lady, who appeared to be going to
travel by the train to London also. He most
kindly assisted them, and put them into the
carriage himself; begging Mrs. Clements not to
forget to send her address to Lady Glyde. The
elderly lady did not travel in the same compartment;
and they did not notice what became of her
on reaching the London terminus. Mrs. Clements
secured respectable lodgings in a quiet neighbourhood ;
and then wrote, as she had engaged to do,
to inform Lady Glyde of the address.

A little more than a fortnight passed, and no
answer came.

At the end of that time, a lady (the same
elderly lady whom they had seen at the
station) called in a cab, and said that she came
from Lady Glyde, who was then at an hotel
in London, and who wished to see Mrs.
Clements for the purpose of arranging a future
interview with Anne. Mrs. Clements expressed
her willingness (Anne being present at the
time, and entreating her to do so) to forward
the object in view, especially as she was not
required to be away from the house for more than
half an hour at the most. She and the elderly
lady (clearly Madame Fosco) then left in the
cab. The lady stopped the cab, after it had
driven some distance, at a shop, before they got
to the hotel; and begged Mrs. Clements to wait
for her for a "few minutes, while she made a