During the hubbub described in the preceding chapter, Dungowan went into the house and shut the door; no one followed, and he remained with his cousin Mrs. Paddock some time, in the course of which she fully explained to him her own situation, and those of the boys.

I was apprehensive that the inconvenience occasioned by the ludicrous interference of Mrs. Clavering, would have had an injurious effect on her weakness, but it proved otherwise; she felt renovated strength. The truth is, that from the period of her removal from our house to her own cottage in Stockwell, she had become gradually depressed in mind, and there was more of intellectual despondency in her malady, than of physical disease. The disturbance had in consequence the effect of rousing her, and when I saw her after her explanations with Dungowan, she surprised me by the healthy tone of her spirits.

Partaking in some degree of her resolution of character, it was determined between her and the Captain, that the blemish in the birth of the children should be concealed. Nothing required its disclosure, and she had not alluded to it fortunately to the nurse. In so far therefore, an incident that would have materially affected the comfort of both, might be considered suppressed; and it was in the course of the day arranged, that the Captain should fix his location near Sylvany, and that she should take the management of his house, and superintend the Evelyns, who were also to live with them.