to, when I am well enough to travel again,"
pursued Rosamond. "What do you think,
Mrs. Jazeph, of a house, with one whole side
of it that has never been inhabited for sixty
or seventy years past? You may get some
notion of the size of Porthgenna Tower from
that. There is a west side that we are to
live in when we get there, and a north side,
where the empty old rooms are, which I hope
we shall be able to repair. Only think of
the hosts of odd, old-fashioned things that
we may find in those uninhabited rooms!
I mean to put on the cook's apron and the
gardener's gloves, aud rummage all over them
from top to bottom. How I shall astonish
the housekeeper, when I get to Porthgenna,
and ask her for the keys of the ghostly north
rooms!"

A low cry, and a sound as if something
had struck against the dressing-table,
followed Mrs. Frankland's last words. She
started in the bed, and asked eagerly what
was the matter.

"Nothing," answered Mrs. Jazeph, speaking
so constrainedly that her voice dropped to a
whisper. "Nothing, ma'am -- nothing, I assure
you. I struck my side, by accident, against
the table—pray don't be alarmed! —it's not
worth noticing."

"But you speak as if you were in pain,"
said Rosamond.

"No, no, not in pain. Not hurt, not hurt,
indeed."

While Mrs. Jazeph was declaring that she
was not hurt, the door of the room was
opened, and the doctor entered, leading in
Mr. Frankland.

"We come early, Mrs. Frankland, but we
are going to give you plenty of time to
compose yourself for the night," said Mr. Orridge.
He paused, and noticed that Rosamond's
colour was heightened. "I am afraid you
have been talking and exciting yourself a
little too much," he went on. "If you will
excuse me for venturing on the suggestion,
Mr. Frankland, I think the sooner good-night
is said, the better. Where is the nurse?"

Mrs. Jazeph sat down with her back to the
lighted candle when she heard herself asked
for. Just before that, she had been looking
at Mr. Frankland with an eager, undisguised
curiosity, which, if anyone had noticed it,
must have appeared surprisingly out of
character with her usual modesty and refinement
of manner.

"I am afraid the nurse has accidentally
hurt her side more than she is willing to
confess," said Rosamond to the doctor, pointing,
with one hand, to the place in which Mrs.
Jazeph was sitting, and raising the other to
her husband's neck as he stooped over her
pillow.

Mr. Orridge, on inquiring what had
happened, could not prevail on the new nurse to
acknowledge that the accident was of the
slightest consequence. He suspected,
nevertheless, that she was suffering, or, at least,
that something had happened to discompose
her; for he found the greatest difficulty in
fixing her attention, while he gave her a few
needful directions in case her services were
required during the night. All the time he
was speaking, her eyes wandered away from
him to the part of the room where Mr. and
Mrs. Frankland were talking together. Mrs.
Jazeph looked like the last person in the
world who would be guilty of an act of
impertinent curiosity; and yet she openly
betrayed all the characteristics of an
inquisitive woman, while Mr. Frankland was
standing by his wife's pillow. The doctor
was obliged to assume his most peremptory
manner, before he could get her to attend to
him at all.

"And now, Mrs. Frankland," said Mr.
Orridge, turning away from the nurse, "as I
have given Mrs. Jazeph all the directions she
wants, I shall set the example of leaving you
in quiet, by saying good-night."

Understanding the hint conveyed in these
words, Mr. Frankland attempted to say good-
night, too, but his wife kept tight hold of
both his hands, and declared that it was
unreasonable to expect her to let him go for
another half-hour at least. Mr. Orridge
shook his head, and began to expatiate on
the evils of over-excitement, and the blessings
of composure and sleep. His remonstrances,
however, would have produced very little
effect, even if Rosamond had allowed him to
continue them, but for the interposition of
the baby, who happened to wake up at that
moment, and who proved himself a powerful
auxiliary on the doctor's side, by absorbing
all his mother's attention immediately.
Seizing his opportunity at the right moment,
Mr. Orridge quietly led Mr. Frankland out
of the room, just as Rosamond was taking
the child up in her arms. He stopped before
closing the door to whisper one last word to
Mrs. Jazeph.

"If Mrs. Frankland wants to talk, you
must not encourage her," he said. "As soon
as she has quieted the baby, she ought to go
to sleep. There is a chair-bedstead in that
corner which you can open for yourself when
you want to lie down. Keep the candle
where it is now, behind the curtain. The
less light Mrs. Frankland sees, the sooner
she will compose herself to sleep."

Mrs. Jazeph made no answer: she only
looked at the doctor and curtseyed. That
strangely scared expression in her eyes, which
he had noticed on first seeing her, was more
painfully apparent than ever, when he left
her alone for the night with the mother and
child. "She will never do," thought Mr.
Orridge, as he led Mr. Frankland down the
inn stairs. "We shall have to send to London
for a nurse, after all."

Feeling a little irritated by the summary
manner in which her husband had been taken
away from her, Rosamond fretfully rejected
the offers of assistance which were made to