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 Miss Bydel failed not to take this opportunity of making sundry enquiries into the manner in which Ellis passed her time; whom she saw; whither she went; what sort of table she kept; and what allowance she made for the trouble which she gave to the servants.

"Well, my dear," she cried, "this is but a bad affair, this business of the day before yesterday. I have been to Mrs. Maple, and I have worked out the truth, at last; though nobody would believe the pains it cost me before I could sift it to the bottom. However, the most extraordinary part is, that when all came to all, she did not tell me who you were were! for she persists she don't so much as know it herself!"

The surprise of the the milliners, and the disturbance of Ellis, were alike unheeded by Miss Bydel, whose sole solicitude was to come to the point.

"Now the thing I principally want to know, my dear, is whether this is true? for though I would not for ever so much