Think of my position if I had been without a friend in the town.

Then, indeed, but for Miss Redwing I should have heard nothing even yet.' 'She wrote to you ?' 'Not to me; she mentioned the matter in a letter to my aunt, Mrs.
Rossall.' 'Did Beatrice--you let me question ?--did she know ?' 'Only, she says, in consequence of a letter my father addressed to Mr.
Baxendale.' The lady smiled again.
'I ask because Beatrice is now and then a little mysterious to me.

I spoke to her of that letter in the full belief that she must have knowledge of the circumstances.

She denied it, yet, I thought, as if it were a matter of conscience to do so.' 'I think it more than likely that my aunt had written to her on the subject.

And yet--no; she would not have denied it to you.