he
deep-set eyes.

And Sir Richard, watching, wondered again--this time uneasily--whether
the marriage of his beloved little daughter to Bruce Cheniston had
proved yet another trouble for this man's already burdened spirit to
bear.

Sir Richard had, of course, no idea of the remorse with which Anstice
remembered that terrible scene on the eve of Iris' wedding day, when
Cheniston and the girl he was to marry on the morrow had come to him for
help; and had found him in no fit state to render aid to any human
being.

That fact alone, the fact that, as he had said bitterly to Chloe
Carstairs, he had failed a child in her need, would have been sufficient
to fill Anstice with a very real and deep regret for his own most
lamentable failure; but added to that was the other and still more
deplorable fact that it had been Iris Wayne who had seen his condition;
and although she had uttered no word of reproach he told himself
hopelessly that now he must have fallen very low in her estimation. And
the idea that Iris must scorn him in her heart, however charitably she
might strive to think of him, was a terrible one to the man who had
fought so heroically for her sake to overcome his weakness, and had
failed only when it had seemed to him that his failure--now--could mean
nothing to the girl he loved.

* * * * *

As Sir Richard watched him, rather uneasily, Anstice turned to him
suddenly.

"I say, Sir Richard, I'm pretty sure these letters are both written by
one hand! Look, these two 'a's are identical, and the capital 'D' is
absolutely similar in both."

Oddly thrilled, Sir Richard bent over the papers; and saw that Anstice
had spoken the obvious truth.

"By Gad, Anstice, you're right!" For a moment he did not know whether to
be disturbed or relieved by the discovery. "It looks uncommonly as
though the same hand were at work again; and in that case----"

"In that case the mischief-maker shall be brought to book." A new look
of resolution drove away the weary lines from the speaker's face. "I
hope with all my heart it _is_ the same person who's at the old
game--and I'll find out who it is if it costs me every penny I've got!"

"Quite right, quite the right spirit," said Sir Richard, watching him
keenly the while. "It's damnably unfair that a story of that sort should
be circulated about you--and the blackguard who's responsible deserves a
heavy punishment for the lie."

In an instant th