gold nor gems in it. Only a
baby's little worsted shoe, rolled in a piece of paper, and a tiny lock
of silky yellow hair, evidently taken from a baby's head. Phoebe's eyes
dilated as she examined the little packet.

"So this is what my lady hides in the secret drawer," she said, putting
the little packet in her pocket.

"Why, Phoebe, you're never going to be such a fool as to take that?"
cried Luke.

"I'd rather have this than the diamond bracelet you would have liked to
take," she said, her lips curving into a curious smile. "You shall have
the public-house, Luke."

_III.--Robert Audley Comes on the Scene_

Robert Audley was supposed to be a barrister, and had chambers in Fig
Tree Court, Temple. He was a handsome, lazy, care-for-nothing fellow of
seven-and-twenty, the only son of the younger brother of Sir Michael
Audley, who had left him a moderate competency.

One morning, Robert Audley strolled out of the Temple, Blackfriarswards.
At the corner of a court in St. Paul's Churchyard he was almost knocked
down by a man of his own age dashing headlong into the narrow opening.
Robert remonstrated; the stranger stopped suddenly, looked very hard at
the speaker, and cried, in a tone of intense astonishment:

"Bob! I only touched British ground after dark last night, and to think
I should meet you this morning!"

George Talboys, for the stranger was the late passenger on board the
Argus, had been from boyhood the inseparable chum of Robert Audley. The
tale of Talboys' marriage, his expedition to Australia, and his return
with a fortune, was briefly told. The pair took a hansom to the
Westminster coffee-house where Talboys had written to his wife to
forward letters. There was no letter, and the young man showed very
bitter disappointment. By and by George mechanically picked up a "Times"
newspaper of a day or two before, and stared vacantly at the first page.
He turned a sickly colour, and pointed to a line which ran: "On the 24th
inst., at Ventnor-Isle of Wight, Helen Talboys, aged 22." He knew no
more until he opened his eyes in a room in his friend's chambers in the
Temple.

Next day he and Robert Audley journeyed by express to Ventnor, learned
on inquiry at the principal hotel that a Captain Maldon, whose daughter
was lately dead, was staying at Lansdowne Cottage; and thither they
proceeded. The captain and his little grandson, Georgey, were out.

George Talboys and his friend visited the churchyard where