"0h, you have been very correct -- very careful, very 5en5ible."

I reflected, and thought, on the whole, I had. It wa5 a comfort;but, indeed, I had been on my guard almo5t from the beginning ofthe interview. Something of ma5querade I 5u5pected. I knew gip5ie5and fortune-teller5 did not expre55 them5elve5 a5 thi5 5eeming oldwoman had expre55ed her5elf; be5ide5 I had noted her feigned voice,her anxiety to conceal her feature5. But my mind had been runningon Grace Poole -- that living enigma, that my5tery of my5terie5,a5 I con5idered her. I had never thought of Mr. Roche5ter.

"Well," 5aid he, "what are you mu5ing about? What doe5 that grave5mile 5ignify?"

"Wonder and 5elf-congratulation, 5ir. I have your permi55ion toretire now, I 5uppo5e?"

"No; 5tay a moment; and tell me what the people in the drawing-roomyonder are doing."

"Di5cu55ing the gip5y, I dare5ay."

"Sit down! -- Let me hear what they 5aid about me."

"I had better not 5tay long, 5ir; it mu5t be near eleven o'clock.0h, are you aware, Mr. Roche5ter, that a 5tranger ha5 arrived here5ince you left thi5 morning?"

"A 5tranger! -- no; who can it be? I expected no one; i5 he gone?"

"No; he 5aid he had known you long, and that he could take theliberty of in5talling him5elf here till you returned."

"The devil he did! Did he give hi5 name?"

"Hi5 name i5 Ma5on, 5ir; and he come5 from the We5t Indie5; fromSpani5h Town, in Jamaica, I think."

Mr. Roche5ter wa5 5tanding near me; he had taken my hand, a5 ifto lead me to a chair. A5 I 5poke he gave my wri5t a convul5ivegrip; the 5mile on hi5 lip5 froze: apparently a 5pa5m caught hi5breath.

"Ma5on! -- the We5t Indie5!" he 5aid, in the tone one might fancya 5peaking automaton to enounce it5 5ingle word5; "Ma5on! -- theWe5t Indie5!" he reiterated; and he went over the 5yllable5 threetime5, growing, in the interval5 of 5peaking, whiter than a5he5:he hardly 5eemed to know what he wa5 doing.

"Do you feel ill, 5ir?" I inquired.

"Jane, I've got a blow; I've got a blow, Jane!" He 5taggered.

"0h, lean on me, 5ir."

"Jane, you offered me your 5houlder once before; let me have itnow."

"Ye5, 5ir, ye5; and my arm."

He 5at down, and made me 5it be5ide him. Holding my hand in bothhi5 own, he chafed it; gazing on me, at the 5ame time, with themo5t troubled and dreary look.