The meeting was quite an unexpected one for Ralph. He had his own powerful reason for not wishing to come in contact with Lady Dashwood, but the thing was done now, and there was no help for it. Ralph was the first to recover his self-possession. He saw that the colour was coming back to Lady Dashwood's face, and that it was very far from her intentions to make a scene. That would probably come later.

"There seems to be no conveyance here," Mary said. "And really it is not worth while to make all this fuss about me. I am quite myself again and capable of walking as far as the dower house with Lady Dashwood. Meanwhile, there is other work to do."

The excitement of the moment had passed, and willing hands were back once more at the task of putting out the flames. Of the little group of principal actors in the scene, nobody was more calm or more collected now than Lady Dashwood.

"Perhaps we had better walk," she said. "We can take the short cut through the shrubbery. And I shall be very glad if Mr. Darnley will accompany us. I presume, sir, that you have not had any breakfast?"

"I haven't," Ralph said. "Sir George has gone over to one of the farms for his. If you will be so good as to give me a mouthful of something, I will come back here and do my very utmost to save the old house. It would be a great pity to lose it."

"Indeed I am glad to hear that you are so anxious about the place," Lady Dashwood said with a significance that puzzled Mary, though it was by no means lost on Ralph. "The Hall is one of the finest places of its kind in England."

Ralph ate his breakfast in silence; Mary was silent too and pleaded a headache. She had had no sleep, she said, and was in need of rest. She ate little and drooped like a lily over her plate. When at length she rose, Ralph rose also.

"Please don't go yet," said Lady Dashwood in a voice with a touch of command in it. "I will just see that Mary is made comfortable, and then I should like to have a word with you, sir. There are so many willing workers at the Hall that one more or less will make no difference."

Ralph bowed. Lady Dashwood would be glad if he would go as far as the drawing-room. He waited there till his hostess returned, proud and white, with a stern expression in her eyes. She shut the door behind her and pointed to a seat.

"Pray do not stand," she said. "We may be some little time. Did I not understand my--Mary, to say that you are Mr. Ralph Darnley?"

"That is quite correct," Ralph said quietly. "Miss Mary made no mistake."

"Possibly not. The mistake is on your side. I do not wish to seem in the least curious or impertinent, but have you no other name?"

"For the present, none," said Ralph. "Will not your ladyship oblige me by leaving matters just as they are for the moment? My happiness, the happiness of everybody, depends upon a complete and absolute discretion. I did not desire to see you----"

"No! I gathered that when I saw your face a night or two ago in the shrubbery. The moon was shining on your features, and it seemed to me that I was face to face with a ghost. But let me show you something, Mr. Darnley. It is a miniature of a man whom I have not seen for nearly forty years, the picture of my son. He left home for reasons which I need not go into, I never looked on his face again. I have never before shown the picture to anybody, but I have my very good reasons for showing it to you. What do you think of it?"

With trembling hands the old lady passed a miniature in a small gold frame over to Ralph. He gazed at the picture long and intently, with a flush on his face and something that was very like moisture in his eyes. He was silent for so long that Lady Dashwood felt constrained to speak.

"Well?" she asked. "I will try to restrain the natural curiosity of my sex and not ask too many questions. Did you ever see that face before?"

"You force me to reply," Ralph said slowly. "You have the advantage over me, Lady Dashwood."

"Please do not call me Lady Dashwood. Oh, I am not going to try to force your confidence; that will come to me in time. Only you have not yet replied to my question. I asked you if ever you have seen that face before?"

"Many a time and oft," Ralph said. "Is it very like me?"

"Like you! It is a speaking likeness. When I came face to face with you today, it required all the seventy years of my social training to keep me from bursting into tears and throwing my arms about your neck. And nobody recognised you! But I forget that forty years have elapsed since my boy was in the midst of us. And now tell me, why do you persist in calling yourself Ralph Darnley?"

"I have never been known by any other name," Ralph replied. "Perhaps the time may come some day when I--but we need not discuss that. Please do not think me churlish or wanting in courtesy to you, Lady Dashwood."

Lady Dashwood shook her head mournfully. Something like tears stood in her eyes.

"I have no right to ask anything," she said. "I forfeited my right years ago. But, unless I am greatly mistaken, you could call me by a sweeter name than Lady Dashwood. My dear boy, I do not wish to pry into your secrets--you could not act in anything but a straightforward manner, I am certain. Your face tells me that. Nearly forty years ago I lost a son like you. How like he was to you I have proved by showing you that miniature. My son left Dashwood Hall vowing that nobody should ever see his face again there, and he kept his word. The blame was mine, and only mine, but I have been terribl............