IV

'Well,' said Winnie, 'after a while Mr. D'Arcy returned and told me

that he was now ready to take me for a stroll across the meadows,

saying, "The doctor told me that, at first, your walks must be short;

so while you go to your room I will get Mrs. Titwing in for my usual

consultation about our frugal meal."

'"My room," I said, "my room, and Mrs. Titwing; who's--"

'"Ha! I quite forgot myself," he said, with an air of vexation,

which he tried, I thought, to conceal. "I will ring for Mrs.

Titwing--the housekeeper--and she will take you to your room."

'He walked towards the bell, but before reaching it he stopped as if

arrested by a sudden thought. Then he said, "I will go to the

housekeeper's room and speak to Mrs. Titwing there. I shall be back

in a minute." And he passed from the room through the door by which

he and I had first entered.

'Scarcely had the door closed behind him before a woman entered by

another door opposite to it. She was about the common height,

slender, and of an extremely youthful figure for a woman of middle

age. Her bright-complexioned face, lit by two watery blue eyes, was

pleasant to look upon. It was none the less pleasant because it

showed clearly that she was as guileless as a child.

'I knew at once that she was the person--the housekeeper--that Mr.

D'Arcy had gone to seek at the other side of the house. Evidently she

had come upon me unexpectedly, for she gave a violent start, then she

murmured to herself,

'"So it's all over, and all went off well." she said. Then she walked

quietly towards me and threw her arms round me and kissed me, saying,

"Dear child, I am so glad."

'The tone of voice in which she spoke to me was exactly that of a

nurse speaking to a little child.

'I was so taken by surprise that I pulled myself from her embrace

with some force. The poor woman looked at me in a hurt way and then

said,

'"I beg your pardon, miss. I didn't notice at first how--how changed

you are. The look in your eyes makes me feel that you are not the

same person, and that I have done quite wrong."

'While she was speaking, Mr. D'Arcy had re-entered the room by the

door by which he went out. He had evidently heard the housekeeper's

words.

'"Miss Wynne," he said, "this is Mrs. Titwing, my excellent

housekeeper. She has been attending you during your illness; but your

weakness was so great that you were unconscious of all her kindness."

'I went up to her and kissed her rosy cheek, at which she began to

cry a little. I afterwards found that she was in the habit of crying

a little on most occasions.

'"Will you, then, kindly show me my room?" I said to her. But as she

turned round to lead the way to the room, Mr. D'Arcy said to her,

'"Before you show Miss Wynne the way, I should like one word with

you, Mrs. Titwing, in your room, about the arrangements for the day."

'The two passed out of the room, and again I was left to myself and

my own thoughts.'

V

'Evidently there was some mystery about me,' said Winifred,

continuing her story. 'But the more I tried to think it out the more

puzzling it seemed. How had I been conveyed to this strange new

place? Who was the wizard whose eyes and whose voice began to enslave

me? and what time had passed since he caught me up on Raxton sands?

It seemed exactly like one of those _Arabian Nights_ stories which

you and I used to read together when we were children. The waking up

on the couch, the sight of the end of the other couch behind the

screen, and the tall woman's feet upon it, the voices from unseen

persons in the room, and above all the strange magic of him who

seemed to be the directing genie of the story--all would have seemed

to me unreal had it not been for the prosaic figure of Mrs. Titwing.

About her there could not possibly be any mystery; she was what Miss

Dalrymple would have called "the very embodiment of British

commonplace," and when, after a minute or two, she returned with Mr.

D'Arcy, I went and kissed her again from sheer delight of feeling

the touch of her real, solid; commonplace cheek, and to breathe the

commonplace smell of scented soap. Her bearing, however, towards me

had become entirely changed since she had gone out of the room. She

did not return the kiss, but said, "Shall I show you the way, miss?"

and led the way out.

'She took me through the same dark passage by which I had entered,

and then I found myself in a large bedroom with low panelled walls,

in the middle of which was a vast antique bedstead made of black

carved oak, and every bit of furniture in the room seemed as old as

the bedstead. Over the mantelpiece was an old picture in a carved oak

frame, a Madonna and Child, the beauty of which fascinated me. I

remember that on the bottom of the frame was written in printed

letters the name "Chiaro dell' Erma." I was surprised to find in the

room another walking-dress, not new, but slightly worn, laid out

ready for me to put on. I lifted it up and looked at it. I saw at a

glance that it would most likely fit me like a glove.

'"Whose dress is this?" I said.

'"It's yours, miss."

'"Mine? But how came it mine?"

'"Oh, please don't ask me any questions, miss," she said. "Please ask

Mr. D'Arcy, miss; he knows all about it. I am only the housekeeper,

miss."

'"Mr. D'Arcy knows all about my dress!" I said. "Why, what on earth

has Mr. D'Arcy to do with my dress?"

'"Please don't ask me any more questions, miss," she said. "Pray

don't. Mr. D'Arcy is a very kind man; I am sure nobody has ever heard

me say but what he is a very kind man; but if you do what he says you

are not to do, if you talk about what he says you are not to talk

about, he is frightful, he is awful. He calls you a chattering old--I

don't know what he won't call you. And, of course, I know you are a

lady, miss. Of course you look a lady, miss, when you are dressed

like one. But then, you see, when I first saw you, you were not

dressed as you are now, and at first sight, of course, we go by the

dress a good deal, you know. But Mr. D'Arcy needn't be afraid I shall

not treat you like a lady, miss. I'm only a housekeeper now, though,

of course, I was once very different--very different indeed. But, of

course, anybody has only to look at you to see you are a lady, and,

besides, Mr. D'Arcy says you are a lady, and that is quite enough."

'At this moment there came through the door--it was ajar--Mr.

D'Arcy's voice from the distance, so loud and clear that every word

could be heard.

'"Mrs. Titwing, why do you stay chattering there, preventing Miss

Wynne from getting ready? You know we are going out for a walk

together."

'"Oh Lord, miss!" said the poor woman in a frightened tone, "I must

go. Tell him I didn't chatter--tell him you asked me questions and I

was obliged to answer them."

'The mysteries around me were thickening every moment. What did this

prattling woman mean about the dress in which she had at first seen

me? Was the dress in which she had first seen me so squalid that it

had affected her simple imagination? What had become of me after I

had sunk down on Raxton sands, and why was I left neglected by every

one? I knew you were ill after the landslip, but Mr. D'Arcy had just

told me that you had since been well enough to go to Wales and

afterwards to Japan.

'I put on the dress and soon followed her. When I reached the

tapestried room there was Mr. D'Arcy talking to her in a voice so

gentle, tender, and caressing, that it seemed impossible the rough

voice I had heard bellowing through the passage could have come from

the same mouth, and Mrs. Titwing was looking into his face with the

delighted smile of a child who was being forgiven by its father for

some trifling offence. As I stood and looked at them I said to

myself, "Truly I am in a land of wonders."'