id. Presently she looked up and laughed, but with a forced
laugh.

"Don't be cross, Joe; I'll do whatever you want me to do, and
cheerfully, too, if it will do you any good. What is a woman good for
but to help her husband? Only don't be cross, Joe."

She knew what her husband was by this time--a false and unscrupulous
man. Yet she loved him. The case is not rare by any means, so that
there is hope for all of us, from the meanest and most wriggling worm
among us to the most hectoring ruffian.

"Why there, Lotty," he said, "that is what I like. Now listen. The old
lady is a cake--do you understand? She is a sponge, she swallows
everything, and is ready to fall on your neck and cry over you for
joy. As for doubt or suspicion, not a word. I don't think there will
be a single question asked. No, it's all 'My poor dear Claude'--that's
your father, Lotty--and 'My poor dear Iris'--that's you, Lotty."

"All right, Joe, go on. I am Iris--I am anybody you like. Go on."

"The more I think about it, the more I'm certain we shall do the
trick. Only keep cool over the job and forget the music-hall. You are
Iris Deseret, and you are the daughter of Claude Deseret, deceased. I
am Dr. Washington, one of the American family who brought you up.
You're grateful, mind. Nothing can be more lively than your gratitude.
We've been brother and sister, you and me, and I've got a wife and
young family and a rising practice at home in the State of Maine, and
I am only come over here to see you into your rights at great personal
expense. Paid a substitute. Yes, actually paid a substitute. We only
found the papers the other day, which is the reason why we did not
come over before, and I am going home again directly."

"You are not really going away, Joe, are you?"

"No, I am going to stay here; but I shall pretend to go away. Now
remember, we've got no suspicion ourselves, and we don't expect to
meet any. If there is any, we are surprised and sorry. We don't come
to the lady with a lawyer or a blunderbuss; we come as friends, and we
shall arrange this little business between ourselves. Oh, never you
fear, we shall arrange it quite comfortably, without lawyers."

"How much do you think we shall get out of it, Joe?"

"Listen, and open your eyes. There's nearly a hundred and twenty
thousand pounds and a small estate in the country. Don't let us
trouble about the estate more than we can help. Estates mean lawyers.
Money doesn't."

He spoke as