d not seem so very angry after all.

"They were brought," she went on eagerly, "by a very nice gentleman. He
asked me for a safe place to keep them, and I showed him the cupboard
behind my bed. He helped me to bring them in."

"Was that the man who came for them this morning?" asked Mrs. Guthrie.

Anna shook her head. "Oh no!" she exclaimed. "The other gentleman was a
gentleman. He wrote me a letter first, but when he came he asked me to
give it him back. So of course I did so."

"Did he give you any idea of what he had brought you to keep?" asked
Mrs. Guthrie. "Now, Anna, I beg--I implore you to tell me the truth!"

"The truth will I willingly tell!" Yes, Anna was feeling really better
now. She had confessed the one thing which had always been on her
conscience--her deceit towards her kind mistress. "He said they were
chemicals, a new wonderful invention, which I must take great care of as
they were fragile."

"I suppose he was a German?" said Mrs. Guthrie slowly.

"Yes, he was a German, naturally, being the superior of Willi. But the
man who came to-day was no German."

"And during all that time--three years is a long time, Anna--did you
never hear from him?" asked Mrs. Guthrie slowly.

It had suddenly come over her with a feeling of repugnance and pain,
that old Anna had kept her secret very closely.

"I never heard--no, never, till last night," cried the old woman
eagerly.

"But even now," said Mrs. Guthrie, "I can't understand, Anna, what made
you do it. Was it to please Willi?"

"Yes," said Anna in an embarrassed tone. "It was to please my good
nephew, gracious lady."

CHAPTER XXXII

"And now," said Mrs. Guthrie, looking at the little group of people who
sat round her in the Council Chamber, "and now I have told you, almost I
think word for word, everything my poor old Anna told me."

As Mr. Reynolds remained silent, she added, with a touch of defiance,
"And I am quite, quite sure that she told me the truth!"

Her eyes instinctively sought the Dean's face. Yes, there she found
sympathy,--sympathy and belief. It was impossible to tell what her
husband was thinking. His face was not altered--it was set in stern
lines of discomfort and endurance. The Government official looked
sceptical.

"I have no doubt that the woman has told you a good deal of the truth,
Mrs. Guthrie, but I do not think she has told you _all_ the truth, or
the most important part of it. According to your belief, she a