well-to-do?'

'Anything but that.'

'Indeed? And you can form no idea why Nancy has gone to work in a shop?'

Tarrant raised his eyebrows.

'I see,' he said deliberately. 'You suspect that I have been taking
money from her?'

'I _did_ suspect it; now it seems to me more unlikely.'

'Many thanks,' he answered, with cold irony. 'So the situation was this:
Miss. Lord had been led astray by a rascally fellow, who not only left
her to get on as best she could, but lived on her income, so that she
had at length to earn money for her own needs. There's something very
clear and rounded, very dramatic, about that. What I should like to know
is, whether Miss. Lord tells the story in this way.'

'I can't say that she does. I think it was Mr. Crewe who explained
things like that.'

'I am obliged to Mr. Crewe. But he may, after all, only repeat what he
has heard. It's a pity we don't know Miss. Lord's actual confidante.'

'Of course you have _not_ received assistance from her?'

Tarrant stared for a moment, then laughed unpleasantly.

'I have no recollection of it.'

'Another disagreeable question. Did you really go away and leave her to
get on as best she could?'

He looked darkly at her.

'And if I did?'

'Wasn't it rather unaccountable behaviour--in a gentleman?'

'Possibly.'

'I can't believe it. There is something unexplained.'

'Yes, there _is_ something unexplained.--Mrs. Damerel, I should have
thought you would naturally speak first to your niece. Why did you send
for me before doing so?'

'To find out what sort of man you were, so that I should be able to form
my own opinion of what Nancy chose to tell me. Perhaps she may refuse to
tell me anything at all--we are not like ordinary relatives, I am sorry
to say. But I dare say you know better than I do how she thinks of me.'

'I have heard her speak of you only once or twice. At all events, now
that you are prepared, you will go and see her?'

'I must. It would be wrong to stand by and do nothing.'

'And you will see her guardians?'

'That must depend. I certainly shall if she seems to be suffering
hardships. I must know why she goes out to work, as if she were pinched
for money. There is her child to support, of course, but that wouldn't
make any difference to her; she is well provided for.'

'Yes. There's no choice but to fall back upon the villain theory.'

He rose, and took up his hat.

'You mustn't go yet, Mr. Tarrant,' said his hostess f