mouth, and my name is Iver."

"Iver!" She looked at him curiously. At once he felt that she had
knowledge of the relation between his daughter and Harry Tristram.

"Yes, and since we shall probably be neighbors----" He held out his
hand. She put hers into it, still with a bewildered air. Neeld contented
himself with a bow as he passed her, and Duplay escaped from the room
with a rapidity and stillness suggestive of a desire not to be observed.
When the men were gone Cecily sank into a chair and covered her face
with her hands for a minute. She looked up to find Mina regarding her,
still with mingled inquisitiveness and hostility.

"What were you all doing here when I came?" asked Cecily.

"They were trying to make me tell what I knew about Harry Tristram. But
I wouldn't tell."

"Wouldn't you?" Cecily's eyes sparkled in sudden approval, and she broke
into a smile. "I like you for that," she cried. "I wouldn't have told
either."

"But now!" The Imp pouted disconsolately. "Well, it's not your fault, I
suppose, and----" She walked up to Cecily and gave her a brief but
friendly kiss. "And you needn't be so upset as all that about it. We'll
just talk over what we'd better do."

There was not much prospect of their talk affecting either the laws of
England or the determination of Harry Tristram to any appreciable
extent. But the proposal seemed to comfort Cecily; and the Imp rang the
bell for tea. Coming back from this task, she gave Cecily a critical
glance.

"You'll look it anyhow," she concluded with a reluctant smile.

Meanwhile Iver and Neeld drove back to Blentmouth. Iver said nothing
about his friend's bygone treachery; oddly enough it was not in the
culprit's mind either.

"Now, Neeld, to break this news to Janie!" said Iver.

Neeld nodded once again.

But of course a situation quite other than they expected awaited them at
Fairholme.

XVI

THE NEW LIFE

"You haven't mentioned it to the young man himself?" asked Lady
Evenswood.

"Certainly not. I've only seen him once, and then he didn't talk of his
own affairs. He takes the thing very well. He's lost his position and
he's the hero of the newspapers, and he bears both afflictions quite
coolly. A lad of good balance, I think."

"Is he agreeable?"

"Hum, I'm not sure of that. No excess of modesty, I fancy."

"I suppose you mean he's not shy? All young men are conceited. I think I
should like you to bring him to see me."

For forty year