Sir ⁠—Sir Percival! Anne Catherick’s question⁠—that suspicious question about the men of the rank of Baronet whom I might happen to know⁠—had hardly been dismissed from my mind by Miss Halcombe’s return to me in the summerhouse, before it was recalled again by her own answer. I stopped suddenly, and looked at her.

“Sir Percival Glyde,” she repeated, imagining that I had not heard her former reply.

“Knight, or Baronet?” I asked, with an agitation that I could hide no longer.

She paused for a moment, and then answered, rather coldly⁠—

“Baronet, of course.”