She tottered and would have fallen had I not caught her.

I carried her to the bed, and Madge called Lady Crawford.

Dorothy had swooned.
When she wakened she said dreamily:-- "I shall always keep this cloak and gown." Aunt Dorothy thought the words were but the incoherent utterances of a dimly conscious mind, but I knew they were the deliberate expression of a justly grateful heart.
The following evening trouble came about over the matter of the marriage contract.
You remember I told you that Sir George had sent Lady Crawford as an advance guard to place the parchment in the enemy's hands.

But the advance guard feared the enemy and therefore did not deliver the contract directly to Dorothy.

She placed it conspicuously upon the table, knowing well that her niece's curiosity would soon prompt an examination.
I was sitting before the fire in Aunt Dorothy's room, talking to Madge when Lady Crawford entered, placed the parchment on the table, and took a chair by my side.