She flung down the draperies again, and, forcing back the tears which had fairly pained her cheeks as they poured over them, she left the chamber and hurried down-stairs to put in force a resolve formed during her unquiet vigil.
When Sir William Phipps conducted his wife into the house, at the conclusion of that embarrassing scene, they passed through the long passage and entered an apartment which the governor occupied as his study.
"I was hardly expecting your arrival to-night," Lady Phipps said, as he placed a chair and sat down near her.
"I made all haste, for I was anxious to return—"
"Be careful how you arrive again in the dark," she said, interrupting him in a playful tone, through which some faint annoyance that her husband's mistake had occasioned might have been detected.
"I regret that," replied Sir William, gravely; "but supposing the lady could be no other than my own fair wife, I did not hesitate to greet her."
"Let us say no more about it—we will leave the lady to herself for a little, when she will have recovered from her agitation."
"Is she your friend from the farm house?"
"Yes—it is Mistress Barbara Stafford; you remember the name, and the shipwreck."
"I remember; and you have persuaded her to become our guest at last?"