"Shall I open it?" whispered Rose, bending gently over her.
Adeline looked assent, and Rose broke the seal, holding it immediately before her face. It was a blank sheet of paper, without word or comment, enclosing the letters she had written to him. They fell in a heap upon her, as she lay. Rose, at home in such matters, understood it as soon as Adeline, and turned with a frown to Louise.
"Did Mr. St. John give you this?"
"Ah, no, mademoiselle. Mr. St. John is gone."
"Gone!"
"Gone away to England. Gone for good."
Rose gathered the letters into the sheet of paper, as if in abstraction, amusing herself by endeavouring to put together the large seal she had broken. Truth was, she did not know what to say or do. Adeline's eyes were closed, but she heard--by the heaving bosom and crimsoned cheeks, contrasting with their previous ghastly paleness. Louise, like a simpleton, continued in an undertone to Rose, and there was no one by to check her gossip.
"He had not been gone three minutes when I got there---- Oh, by the way, mademoiselle, here's the note you gave me for him. Madame Baret was changing her cap to bring up the thick letter, for Mr. St. John had said it was to be taken special care of, and given into Mademoiselle Adeline's own hands, so she thought she would bring it herself. She's in a fine way at his going, is mother Baret, for she says she never saw any one that she liked so much."
"But what took him off in this sudden manner?" demanded Rose, forgetful of Adeline in her own eager curiosity.
"Madame Baret says she'd give her two ears to know," responded Louise. "She thought something must have happened up here--a dispute, or some unpleasant matter of that sort. But I told her, No. Something had occurred here unfortunately, sure enough, but it could have had nothing to do with Mr. St. John, because he had left the château previously. She then thought he might have received ill news from England; though no letters came for him in the morning. But whatever it might be, he was in an awful passion. He has spoilt the picture."