this
conversation I would give you a warning.'

'A warning!' stammered the bishop, starting back.

'A very necessary warning,' said the doctor, solemnly. 'If you have a
secret, beware of Cargrim.'

CHAPTER XX

MOTHER JAEL

Doctor Graham was not the man to fail in carrying through successfully
any scheme he undertook, and what he had promised the bishop he duly
fulfilled. After a rather lengthy interview with Mrs Pendle and her
daughter, he succeeded in arousing their interest in Nauheim and its
baths: so much so, that before he left the palace they were as eager to
go as formerly they had been to stay. This seeming miracle was
accomplished mainly by a skilful appeal to Mrs Pendle's love for
experimenting with new medical discoveries in connection with her
health. She had never tried the Schott treatment for heart dilation, and
indeed had heard very little about it; but when fully informed on the
subject, her interest in it was soon awakened. She soon came to look on
the carbolic spring of Nauheim as the true fountain of youth, and was
sanguine that by bathing for a few weeks in its life-giving waters she
would return to Beorminster hale and hearty, and full of vitality. If
ever Hope told a flattering tale, she did to Mrs Pendle through the lips
of cunning Dr Graham.

'I thought you knew nothing about new medicines or treatments,' she
observed graciously; 'or, if you did, that you were too conservative to
prescribe them. I see I was wrong.'

'You were decidedly wrong, Mrs Pendle. It is only a fool who ceases to
acquire knowledge and benefit by it. I am not a cabbage although I do
live in a vegetable garden.'

Lucy's consent was gained through the glowing description of the benefit
her mother would receive from the Nauheim waters, and the opportune
arrival of Sir Harry Brace contributed to the wished-for result. The
ardent lover immediately declared his willingness to escort Lucy to the
world's end. Wherever Lucy was, the Garden of Eden blossomed; and while
Mrs Pendle was being pickled and massaged and put to bed for
recuperative slumbers, he hoped to have his future wife all to himself.
In her sweet company even the dull little German watering-place would
prove a Paradise. Cupid is the sole miracle-worker in these days of
scepticism.

'It is all right, bishop!' said the victorious doctor. 'The ladies will
be off, with Brace in attendance, as soon as they can pack up a waggon
load of feminine frippery