"Oh no, not everything; I saw how little I could get into this scrap of a house. I only brought away what I required." Her companion again looked at her in silence. "I thought you had gone to her for several months."!

"That was why his father, whom he exactly resembles, needed me. And I didn't fail his father," said Mrs. Gereth. She gave Fleda a moment to appreciate the remark; after which she pursued: "Mona Brigstock isn't weak; she's stronger than you!" She passed out of the door that opened toward the village and met a great acrid gust. She heard a far-off windy roar which, in her dismay, she took for that of flames a mile away, and which, the first instant, acted upon her as a wild solicitation. "I must go there." She had scarcely spoken before the same omen had changed into an appalling check.

"She never saw it at all, she never looked at it!" cried Mrs. Gereth. "That he would give his ears to get you?" Mrs. Gereth broke in. "I had a visit from Mrs. Brigstock." She had perceived that he wouldn't speak of Mona without her beginning. After waiting fruitlessly now for him to say more, she continued: "She has been there again? She has seen the state of the house?"