Just as the name left her lips the door slowly opened and Miss Dimsdale entered. Both the gentlemen uttered exclamations of astonishment and pity at the sight of her altered appearance. From being a bright and laughing girl, rather plump than otherwise, she had become thin and careworn, and advanced with a shrinking air, quite at variance with her known character. The black dress she wore enhanced the melancholy of her appearance, and the Colonel, being very much the lover, grew darkly red at the sight.
"How is it that Miss Dimsdale looks so ill?" he asked Frances furiously.
"She is worried over something, and the air of this house doesn't suit her at all," said Miss Hest, who was trying to subdue her emotion. "Again and again I have wanted her to return with me to London, but----"
"But I won't go, I won't go," said Ida in her soft voice. "Don't look so angry, Richard." It was the first time she had uttered his Christian name, and Towton flushed with pleasure. "I am quite well."
"You look extremely ill," he replied bluntly. Ida sat down with a sigh. "It's not the fault of Frances. She has been like a sister to me ever since the death of my dear father."
"Ida, come and stay at The Grange. Lady Corsoon is coming down this evening. I am sure you will be happier there."
"Nonsense!" said Miss Hest with something of her old vigour; "you will be much better with your own people, Ida. If you stay here they will think that I am after your money."
"It's all nonsense, dear. The Colonel here declares that Diabella is, or rather was, Constantine Maunders, masquerading as a fortune-teller."
"Are you talking of a secret of your father's, Ida?" asked Vernon quickly.
"Was Mr. Dimsdale my father?" she demanded facing round anxiously. "Diabella--that is, Constantine, if what you say is true--told me that I was not his daughter. If so, I have no right to the property, and--and----" She put her hand to her forehead, "Oh, my poor head!"
Towton crossed over and took her hand. "Ida, is it this which has been so troubling you?" he asked tenderly.
"Yes! Yes! I wondered if what Diabella said was true. I could not be certain, although I _did_ want to see the lawyer and give up the property. But Frances said----"