It was solely out of regard for Wilfrid that she allowed herself to mislead him, for by this time it seemed obvious that Beatrice was drawing near to her reward, and Mrs.Baxendale, with pardonable error, took this last inquiry about Emily for a piece of conscientiousness, which, once satisfied, Wilfrid would hold on his course to a happy haven.

'She has given him up,' was her self-justification.

'Beatrice now would suffer no less than she has done.' 'Then tell me one thing more,' Wilfrid pursued.

'What has become of that man Dagworthy ?' 'That I can easily do.

Long ago he married a young lady of Dunfield.' 'Then what did it mean?
what _did_ it mean ?' Mrs.Baxendale merely shook her head.
A few months later, Beatrice astonished everyone by her first appearance as a public singer.