The vicar's suspicions were more than realized and he passed an uncomfortable day after his interview with John, in debating what he ought to do, whether he ought to do anything at all, or whether he should merely hasten his old pupil's departure and leave matters to take care of themselves.

He was a very conscientious man, and he felt that he was responsible for John's conduct towards Mrs.Goddard, seeing that she had put herself under his protection, and that John was almost like one of his family.

His first impulse was to ask counsel of his wife, but he rejected the plan, reflecting with great justice that she was very fond of John and had at first not been sure of liking Mrs.Goddard; she would be capable of thinking that the latter had "led Short on," as she would probably say.

The vicar did not believe this, and was therefore loath that any one else should.

He felt that circumstances had made him Mrs.
Goddard's protector, and he was moreover personally attached to her; he would not therefore do or say anything whereby she was likely to appear to any one else in an unfavourable light.