"Yes, ma'am—'Mr. Dare.'"
"The woman at the post-office told you that? Did you ever see him?"
"Yes, ma'am. He spoke to me one evening when I'd run out with a letter, and asked me the way to the Hall."
"And then?"
"He said he'd heard of a Mr. Lepel at Beechfield, ma'am," said Parker, rather reluctantly, "and that he knew a Mr. Lepel and wondered, whether it was the same. But it wasn't. The Mr. Lepel he knew was short and fair and was married; the Mr. Lepel that came here, as I told him, was dark and tall and engaged to Miss Vane."
"You had no right to tell him that, Parker; it is not public property."
"I beg your pardon, I'm sure, ma'am! I'd heard it so often that I thought everybody knew."
"What else did this Mr. Dare say?"
"I don't remember, ma'am."
"Did he ask no other questions? Did he ask, for instance, whether Mr. Lepel was not very fond of Miss Vane?"