"I name no names as yet," answered Mrs. Turner, with a look of affected discretion; "but the lady I mentioned is young, beautiful, and very unhappy, and consequently deserves the compassion and charitable assistance of every one, both man and woman."
"She shall have it," said Weston, solemnly,--"if she be rich enough to pay for it."
"That she is, beyond all manner of doubt," replied Mrs. Turner; "and will pay well, too, I can assure you."
"Ay, but expound, expound," cried the charlatan; "what is her ailment? We must know the disease before we can find a cure."
"Love!" said Mrs. Turner; "love! ay, and hate, too. She is in love with an object who shows himself indifferent to her charms."
"The hard-hearted tiger!" exclaimed Weston; "we must soften him, Mrs. Turner."
"That is the very point," replied the lady. "But her affliction is greatly increased by her having a husband, to whom she was married in her childhood, who has just returned to England, and to whom she must go home in a few days, if something be not done to prevent it.'
"A perilous case," said Weston; "yet there is a remedy for all things. Now, what does the lady require?"
Before Mrs. Turner could answer, a quick foot was heard running up the stairs; and the next moment a maid servant, entering the room, exclaimed, "Madam, madam, there's a lady must see you instantly!"
Mrs. Turner started up, crying, "Into the other room behind there!" But while these words were still upon her tongue, another figure presented itself at the door; and a lady with a large Spanish mantilla over her shoulders, and the ordinary black velvet mask upon her face, entered, with a step, hasty indeed, but full of grace, pausing suddenly when she saw that there was a stranger in the room.