Angela (just returned from her chapel) was sitting at the window of the workroom, in her usual place; she looked out upon the green now and again.
Presently she saw Mr. Maliphant creep slowly along the pavement, and observed that he stopped and spoke to a gentleman. Then she saw Daniel Fagg swinging his arms and gesticulating, as he rehearsed to himself the story of his wrongs, and he stopped and spoke to the same man. Then she saw Mr. Bunker walking moodily on his way, and he stopped, too, and conversed with the stranger. Then he turned, and she saw his face.
It was Lord Jocelyn le Breton, and he was walking with intention toward her own door!
She divined the truth in a moment—he was coming to see the "dressmaker" who had bewitched his boy.
She whispered to Nelly that a gentleman was coming to see her who must be shown upstairs. She took refuge in the drawing-room, which was happily empty; and she awaited him with a beating heart.
She heard his footsteps on the stairs—the door opened. She rose to meet him.
"You here, Miss Messenger! This is, indeed, a surprise."
"No, Lord Jocelyn," she replied, confused, yet trying to speak confidently; "in this house, if you please, I am not Miss Messenger. I am Miss Kennedy, the—the——"
Now she remembered exactly what her next words would mean to him, and she blushed violently. "I am the—the dressmaker."