My nephew Julian, and Horace Holmcroft, and the lady whom I found in the dining-room, will, by my desire, remain in the house until I am able to meet them, and to meet you, again." There the note ended.

To what conclusion did it point?
Had Lady Janet really guessed the truth?
or had she only surmised that her adopted daughter was connected in some discreditable manner with the mystery of "Mercy Merrick"?
The line in which she referred to the intruder in the dining-room as "the lady" showed very remarkably that her opinions had undergone a change in that quarter.

But was the phrase enough of itself to justify the inference that she had actually anticipated the nature of Mercy's confession?
It was not easy to decide that doubt at the moment--and it proved to be equally difficult to throw any light on it at an aftertime.

To the end of her life Lady Janet resolutely refused to communicate to any one the conclusions which she might have privately formed, the griefs which she might have secretly stifled, on that memorable day.
Amid much, however, which was beset with uncertainty, one thing at least was clear.

The time at Mercy's disposal in her own room had been indefinitely prolonged by Mercy's benefactress.