As chance--there is no such thing, of course--would have it, Lady Luce
was changing maids at this time.
Burden, armed with her most excellent and fully deserved "character,"
applied for and obtained the situation.
She ought to have been thankful for her escape, and happy and contented
in a service which, though very different from that of Lady Wolfer's,
was good enough. But Burden had lost her heart; and when one has lost
one's heart, happiness is impossible.
She longed for a sight, just a sight, of her good-looking Ted; and one
day, while the Turfleighs were stopping at Brighton, her heart's desire
was gratified.
She saw her handsome Ted on the pier. He was, if anything, handsomer
than ever, was beautifully dressed--quite the gentleman, in fact, and
though Burden had fully intended to just bow and pass on, she stopped
and talked to him. Cupid slipped round her the chains from which she had
so nearly freed herself, and----The woman who goes back to a man is
indeed completely lost.
They met every day; but alas, alas! Ted no longer spoke of marriage; and
his influence over the woman who loved him unwisely and too well, grew
in proportion to her devotion and helplessness.
She soon learned that the man to whom she had given herself was a
criminal, one of a skillful gang of burglars. But it was too late to
draw back; too late even to refuse to help him.
It was Burden who clung to the man in hiding behind the park gate.
"What made you hurry so, old girl?" he said soothingly, and putting his
arm round her. "What's your fear?"
"Oh, Ted, Ted!" she gasped. "It's so dark----"
"All the better," he said coolly. "Less chance of any one seeing you."
"But some one saw you as you were standing by the window. It was Miss
Lorton--they called out--they may have suspicions."
"Don't you worry," he said. "They only thought it was some one after one
of the girls. And it was the truth, wasn't it? What a frightened little
thing it is! You'd be scared by your own shadow!"
"I am! I am, Ted!" said the unhappy girl. "I start at the slightest
noise; and I'm so--so nervous, that I expect Lady Lucille to send me
away every day."
The man frowned.
"She mustn't do that," he said, half angrily. "I can't have that; it
would be precious awkward just now! That would spoil all our plans."