I am quite sure it is Mrs.Goddard.How stupid of me! Is it not Mrs.Goddard ?" "If you are so positive," said the vicar, resorting to a form of defence generally learned in the nursery, "why do you ask me ?" "I insist upon knowing, Augustin, is it, or is it not, Mrs.Goddard ?" "My dear, I positively refuse to answer any more questions," said the vicar with tardy firmness.
"Oh, it is no matter," retorted Mrs.Ambrose in complete triumph, "if it were not Mrs.Goddard of course you would say so at once." A form of argument so unanswerable, that the vicar hastily left the room feeling that he had basely betrayed John's confidence, and muttering something about intolerable curiosity.

Mrs.Ambrose had vanquished her husband, as she usually did on those rare occasions when anything approaching to a dispute arose between them.

Having come to the conclusion that "it" was Mrs.Goddard, the remainder of the secret needed no discovery.

It was plain that John must be in love with the tenant of the cottage, and it seemed likely that it would devolve upon Mrs.Ambrose to clear up the matter.

She was very fond of John and her first impression was that Mrs.Goddard, whom she now again suspected of having foreign blood, had "led him on"-- an impression which the vicar had anticipated when he rashly resolved not to tell his wife John's secret.
She knew very well that the vicar must have told John his mind in regard to such an attachment, and she easily concluded that he must have done so on the previous evening when John called him into the study.