CHAPTER SEVENTEENTH.
I hear a voice you cannot hear, Which says, I must not stay; I see a hand you cannot see, Which beckons me awry.
Tickell.
I have already told you, Tresham, if you deign to bear it in remembrance, that my evening visits to the library had seldom been made except by appointment, and under the sanction of old Dame Martha's presence.

This, however, was entirely a tacit conventional arrangement of my own instituting.

Of late, as the embarrassments of our relative situation had increased, Miss Vernon and I had never met in the evening at all.

She had therefore no reason to suppose that I was likely to seek a renewal of these interviews, and especially without some previous notice or appointment betwixt us, that Martha might, as usual, be placed upon duty; but, on the other hand, this cautionary provision was a matter of understanding, not of express enactment.

The library was open to me, as to the other members of the family, at all hours of the day and night, and I could not be accused of intrusion, however suddenly and unexpectedly I might made my appearance in it.