 a change for the worse.«
    »My pocket-book saved me,« remarked Hubert, touching his side.
    Mr. Wyvern drew in his lips.
    »Came between that ready-stamped letter and Wanley Manor,« was his comment.
    There was a brief silence.
    »You allow me a question?« the vicar resumed. »It is with reference to the
French lady.«
    »I think you have every right to question me.«
    »Oh no! It does not concern the events prior to your - accident.« Mr. Wyvern
savoured the word. »How long did she remain in attendance upon you?«
    »A short time - two days - I did not need -«
    Mr. Wyvern motioned with his hand, kindly.
    »Then I was not mistaken,« he said, averting his eyes for the first time,
»in thinking that I saw her in Paris.«
    »In Paris?« Hubert repeated, with a poor affectation of indifference.
    »I made a short stay before crossing. I had business at a bank one day; as I
stood before the counter a gentleman entered and took a place beside me. A
second look assured me that he was the man who met me at the edge of the wood
that morning. I suppose he remembered me, for he looked away and moved from me.
I left the bank, and found an open carriage waiting at the door. In it sat the
lady of whom we speak. I took a turn along the pavement and back again. The
Frenchman entered the carriage; they drove away.«
    Hubert's eyes were veiled; he breathed through his nostrils. Again there was
silence.
    »Mr. Eldon,« resumed the vicar, »I was a man of the world before I became a
Churchman; you will notice that I affect no professional tone in speaking with
you, and it is because I know that anything of the kind would only alienate you.
It appeared to me that chance had made me aware of something it might concern
you to hear. I know nothing of the circumstances of the case, merely offer you
the facts.«
    »I thank you,« was Hubert's reply in an undertone.
    »It impressed me, that letter ready stamped for Wanley Manor. I thought of
it again after the meeting in Paris.«
    »I understand you. Of course I could explain the necessity. It would be
useless.«
    »Quite. But experience is not, or should not be, useless, especially when
commented on by one
