“Oh!hasshe？Whatastrangecoincidence!Alltheyearsofourseparationwhileyouwerewayshewasaway，butwithintwodaysofyourreturnshereturns。“
“Yes，itdoesseemodd，“agreedtheflusteredGodfrey，“butit’slucky，isn’tit，for，ofcourse，Iamgladtoseeheragain。“
Mr。Knightfinishedcarvinghimselfahelpingofbeef，andlettheknifefallwithaclatterintothedish。Thenhesaidincarefullychosenwords：
“Youmaythinkitlucky——orwellarranged——butImustdiffer。ItellyouatoncethatIconsiderMissBlakeamostperniciousyoungwoman，andasyourfatherIcanonlyexpressthehopethatyoudonotintendtoallowhertore-assertherevilinfluenceoveryou。“
Godfreywasabouttoanswerwithwrath，butchangedhismindandremainedsilent。Sothetopicdropped，butthatitstoodverystraightuponitsfeetinMr。Knight’smindwasclearfromthecompressionofhisthinlipsandtheill-humourofhisremarksaboutthecoldnessandoverdonecharacterofthebeefandsundryotherhouseholdmatters。AssoonasthemealwasconcludedandhehadwasheditdownwithalastglassofwaterandwithaverywryfacethankedProvidenceforallthathehadreceived，heretiredintohisstudyandwasseennomoretillprayer-time。