in order to gain her own end. She succeeded, too, for after
a few moments more, Mr. Barnes said:

"After all, Madame Medjora, I am merely a detective, and it is my
business to take commissions such as you have intrusted to me, and
work them out. I will make my report to you. With the letter which you
gave me it was easy enough to make a start. I found the writer,
Matilda Grath, and a particularly unprepossessing old hag she is. As
is readily seen by her letter, she is ignorant of even common-school
knowledge. She is simply a rough product of her surroundings, and is
as untutored as when she was born. But she had a younger sister,
Margaret, who was very different. This Margaret was a very attractive
girl, and having some ambition, attended school until she was fairly
well educated. This her elder sisters called "putting on airs" and
"flyin' in the face of the Lord, tryin' to know more 'n her elders."
Margaret also had numerous beaux, and this was another source of
irritation to her sisters. Finally there came a young man to the
neighborhood, and in the language of the people thereabout, Margaret
"set her cap" for him. However, he did not marry her, but after he had
left the vicinity, Margaret went to Boston, where she remained several
months. When she returned she brought a baby back with her. That baby
was Leon."

"Then he was her child?"

"The gossips said so, but there is no doubt in my mind that he was
not. He was the child of the man to whom she had given her heart, but
the mother was his lawful wife."

"Then why was the baby given to Margaret Grath?"

"Because the mother died, and the father was tried for murdering her!"

"My God! You mean that----"

"I mean that Leon's father is your husband, Dr. Medjora!"

"Impossible!" Madame wished to disbelieve exactly what she had always
suspected to be the truth.

"What I tell you is fact. I never do anything by halves. In the first
place I had a hint of the truth from your own suspicions. You of
course had little to go on, but you loved your husband, and when a
jealous eye watches the relation between the beloved one and another,
it will see much. I had no doubt that you had taken your idea from
your observation of the love which the Doctor bestowed upon his
_protege_. Next I noted the coincidence of the dates. Margaret Grath
appeared with the child a very few months prior to the death of Mabel
Sloane. But I obtained substantial proofs."

"What are they?"

"M