"Scold me for a week. Will Mr. St. John be home early tomorrow?"
"I wish I knew. Any time, I suppose, from midday up to night. We must set some one to watch for him. He is posting, and therefore goes and comes the upper road, not passing here. I dare not send a note to Castle Wafer to await his arrival, for my mother, seeing my handwriting, would inevitably open it; neither can I entrust the matter to any of the servants to inform their master: they might make a mystery of it, and so bring it in that way to the ears of my mother. Besides, to tell the truth, I don't care that the servants should know of it. Brumm alone would be safe, and he is with his master."
"Entrust it to me," said Georgina, eagerly. "Let me manage it for you. I will take care to tell Mr. St. John the moment of his arrival. If I can't see him, I'll tell Brumm."
Mr. St. John paused a minute. The proposal certainly solved a difficulty.
"But I don't like you to do this, Georgina," he said, following out his thoughts.
"I will do it," she answered, the colour mantling to her cheeks. "You can't prevent me now."
He smiled at her eagerness; he saw how pleasant it was to her to serve him. She laid her hand on the door to depart.
"Be it so, Georgina. I shall call you henceforth my friend in need."
She opened the door quickly. On the opposite side of the narrow passage, his back propped against the wall, a cautious sentinel, stood the man. Mr. St. John saw him, closed his lips on what he was about to say, and motioned her into the room again.
"You will not speak of this misfortune, Georgina, at your own house? Is it known there?" he continued, a sudden fear betraying itself in his voice. "Does Sarah know of it?"