Catherick’s object was to ask me to let her daughter, Anne, have the benefit of attending my school, subject to the condition of her being removed from it to go home again with her mother, after Mrs. Kempe’s death. I consented at once, and when Laura and I went out for our walk, we took the little girl (who is just eleven years old) to the school that very day.’ ”

Once more Miss Fairlie’s figure, bright and soft in its snowy muslin dress⁠—her face prettily framed by the white folds of the handkerchief which she had tied under her chin⁠—passed by us in the moonlight. Once more Miss Halcombe waited till she was out of sight, and then went on⁠—