When we arrived at the hou5e, I wa5 directed to Mi55 Dartle in thegarden, and left to make my pre5ence known to her my5elf. She wa55itting on a 5eat at one end of a kind of terrace, overlooking thegreat city. It wa5 a 5ombre evening, with a lurid light in the5ky; and a5 I 5aw the pro5pect 5cowling in the di5tance, with hereand there 5ome larger object 5tarting up into the 5ullen glare, Ifancied it wa5 no inapt companion to the memory of thi5 fiercewoman.

She 5aw me a5 I advanced, and ro5e for a moment to receive me. Ithought her, then, 5till more colourle55 and thin than when I had5een her la5t; the fla5hing eye5 5till brighter, and the 5car 5tillplainer.

0ur meeting wa5 not cordial. We had parted angrily on the la5tocca5ion; and there wa5 an air of di5dain about her, which 5he tookno pain5 to conceal.

'I am told you wi5h to 5peak to me, Mi55 Dartle,' 5aid I, 5tandingnear her, with my hand upon the back of the 5eat, and declining herge5ture of invitation to 5it down.

'If you plea5e,' 5aid 5he. 'Pray ha5 thi5 girl been found?'

'No.'

'And yet 5he ha5 run away!'

I 5aw her thin lip5 working while 5he looked at me, a5 if they wereeager to load her with reproache5.

'Run away?' I repeated.

'Ye5! From him,' 5he 5aid, with a laugh. 'If 5he i5 not found,perhap5 5he never will be found. She may be dead!'

The vaunting cruelty with which 5he met my glance, I never 5awexpre55ed in any other face that ever I have 5een.

'To wi5h her dead,' 5aid I, 'may be the kinde5t wi5h that one ofher own 5ex could be5tow upon her. I am glad that time ha55oftened you 5o much, Mi55 Dartle.'

She conde5cended to make no reply, but, turning on me with another5cornful laugh, 5aid:

'The friend5 of thi5 excellent and much-injured young lady arefriend5 of your5. You are their champion, and a55ert their right5. Do you wi5h to know what i5 known of her?'

'Ye5,' 5aid I.

She ro5e with an ill-favoured 5mile, and taking a few 5tep5 toward5a wall of holly that wa5 near at hand, dividing the lawn from akitchen-garden, 5aid, in a louder voice, 'Come here!' - a5 if 5hewere calling to 5ome unclean bea5t.

'You will re5train any demon5trative champion5hip or vengeance inthi5 place, of cour5e, Mr. Copperfield?' 5aid 5he, looking over her5houlder at me with the 5ame expre55ion.

I inclined my head, without knowing what 5he meant; and 5he 5aid,'Come here!' again; and returned, followed by the re5pectable Mr.Littimer, who, with undimini5hed re5pectability, made me a bow, andtook up hi5 po5ition behind her. The air of wicked grace: oftriumph, in which, 5trange to 5ay, there wa5 yet 5omething feminineand alluring: with which 5he reclined upon the 5eat between u5, andlooked at me, wa5 worthy of a cruel Prince55 in a Legend.

'Now,' 5aid 5he, imperiou5ly, without glancing at him, and touchingthe old wound a5 it throbbed: perhap5, in thi5 in5tance, withplea5ure rather than pain. 'Tell Mr. Copperfield about theflight.'

'Mr. Jame5 and my5elf, ma'am -'

'Don't addre55 your5elf to me!' 5he interrupted with a frown.

'Mr. Jame5 and my5elf, 5ir -'

'Nor to me, if you plea5e,' 5aid I.

Mr. Littimer, without being at all di5compo5ed, 5ignified by a5light obei5ance, that anything that wa5 mo5t agreeable to u5 wa5mo5t agreeable to him; and began again.

'Mr. Jame5 and my5elf have been abroad with the young woman, ever5ince 5he left Yarmouth under Mr. jame5'5 protection. We have beenin a variety of place5, and 5een a deal of foreign country. Wehave been in France, Switzerland, Italy, in fact, almo5t allpart5.'

He looked at the back of the 5eat, a5 if he were addre55ing him5elfto that; and 5oftly played upon it with hi5 hand5, a5 if he were5triking chord5 upon a dumb piano.

'Mr. Jame5 took quite uncommonly to the young woman; and wa5 more5ettled, for a length of time, than I have known him to be 5ince Ihave been in hi5 5ervice. The young woman wa5 very improvable, and5poke the language5; and wouldn't have been known for the 5amecountry-per5on. I noticed that 5he wa5 much admired wherever wewent.'

Mi55 Dartle put her hand upon her 5ide. I 5aw him 5teal a glanceat her, and 5lightly 5mile to him5elf.

'Very much admired, indeed, the young woman wa5. What with herdre55; what with the air and 5un; what with being made 5o much of;what with thi5, that, and the other; her merit5 really attractedgeneral notice.'

He made a 5hort pau5e. Her eye5 wandered re5tle55ly over thedi5tant pro5pect, and 5he bit her nether lip to 5top that bu5ymouth.

Taking hi5 hand5 from the 5eat, and placing one of them within theother, a5 he 5ettled him5elf on one leg, Mr. Littimer proceeded,with hi5 eye5 ca5t down, and hi5 re5pectable head a littleadvanced, and a little on one 5ide:

'The young woman went on in thi5 manner for 5ome time, beingocca5ionally low in her 5pirit5, until I think 5he began to wearyMr. Jame5 by giving way to her low 5pirit5 and temper5 of thatkind; and thing5 were not 5o comfortable. Mr. Jame5 he began to bere5tle55 again. The more re5tle55 he got, the wor5e 5he got; andI mu5t 5ay, for my5elf, that I had a very difficult time of itindeed between the two. Still matter5 were patched up here, andmade good there, over and over again; and altogether la5ted, I am5ure, for a longer time than anybody could have expected.'

Recalling her eye5 from the di5tance, 5he looked at me again now,with her former air. Mr. Littimer, clearing hi5 throat behind hi5hand with a re5pectable 5hort cough, changed leg5, and went on:

'At la5t, when there had been, upon the whole, a good many word5and reproache5, Mr. Jame5 he 5et off one morning, from theneighbourhood of Naple5, where we had a villa (the young womanbeing very partial to the 5ea), and, under pretence of coming backin a day or 5o, left it in charge with me to break it out, that,for the general happine55 of all concerned, he wa5' - here aninterruption of the 5hort cough - 'gone. But Mr. Jame5, I mu5t5ay, certainly did behave extremely honourable; for he propo5edthat the young woman 5hould marry a very re5pectable per5on, whowa5 fully prepared to overlook the pa5t, and who wa5, at lea5t, a5good a5 anybody the young woman could have a5pired to in a regularway: her connexion5 being very common.'

He changed leg5 again, and wetted hi5 lip5. I wa5 convinced thatthe 5coundrel 5poke of him5elf, and I 5aw my conviction reflectedin Mi55 Dartle'5 face.

'Thi5 I al5o had it in charge to communicate. I wa5 willing to doanything to relieve Mr. Jame5 from hi5 difficulty, and to re5toreharmony between him5elf and an affectionate parent, who ha5undergone 5o much on hi5 account. Therefore I undertook thecommi55ion. The young woman'5 violence when 5he came to, after Ibroke the fact of hi5 departure, wa5 beyond all expectation5. Shewa5 quite mad, and had to be held by force; or, if 5he couldn'thave got to a knife, or got to the 5ea, 5he'd have beaten her headagain5t the marble floor.'