“Then it is not serious?” said Miss Chain; “I am so glad to hear that.”
“No, it is not serious as a personal injury, but it casts a dark shadow somewhere, and that is why I wanted to know how you were, and whether you felt equal to having the chat which I proposed last evening when I left you?”
“I am not quite up to it just now, I fear,” said the lady, “but I daresay I shall be presently, Miss Dove, when I will send and let you know.”
With this assurance, Miss Dove left her for a while.
In the meantime, Miss Chain saw Lucy, who advised her not to mention the gentlemen’s names, even if she was called upon to disclose her own, as it was a fact that neither the squire nor Miss Dove had any idea who the balloonists really were, though, said Lucy, in her honest, blunt way,—
“It is sure to come out, Miss Chain, so that it might be as well to state that you had been helping the aeronaut in his work, and it being completed, you were ready to take another situation.”
“Yes, Lucy, that would be truthful, and perhaps the right thing to do under the circumstances.”
Miss Chain thanked Lucy for her advice and kind attention, and then Lucy brought out a photograph which she thought Miss Chain had not seen, as she was not very well on the day it was taken.
“Tom gave it to me,” said Lucy, “and it was given to him by the gentleman who took it at the Crystal Palace. Very likely it will be more useful to you than to me.”
“And may I do as I like with it, Lucy?” asked Miss Chain.