When I came back I heard that my mistress had taken to her room.

She remained there for four days, keeping her new sorrow, whatever it was, strictly to herself.
On the fifth day the lawyer from London arrived at the Hall.

My mistress went down to him in the library, and was shut up there with him for nearly two hours.

At the end of that time the bell rang for me.
"Sit down, William," said my mistress, when I came into the room.

"I feel such entire confidence in your fidelity and attachment that I am about, with the full concurrence of this gentleman, who is my nearest relative and my legal adviser, to place a very serious secret in your keeping, and to employ your services on a matter which is as important to me as a matter of life and death." Her poor eyes were very red, and her lips quivered as she spoke to me.
I was so startled by what she had said that I hardly knew which chair to sit in.