Page:Tales of my landlord (Volume 4).djvu/218

 day." He passed by me like a fire flaught when I was in the garden!"

"This is mid-summer madness," said Lord Evandale, "or there is some strange villainy afloat.—Jenny, attend your Lady to her chamber, while I endeavour to find a clew to all this."

But Lord. Evandale's enquiries were in vain. Jenny, who might have given (had she chosen) a very satisfactory explanation, had an interest to leave the matter in darkness; and interest was a matter which now weighed principally with Jenny, since the possession of an active and affectionate busband in her own proper right had altogether allayed her spirit of coquetry. She had made the best use of the first moments of confusion hastily to remove all traces of any one having slept in the apartment adjoining to the parlour, and even to erase the mark of footsteps beneath the window through which she conjectured Morton's face had been seen while at