g the philosopher sat in the bookseller's chair, and
James, in the outer shop, felt that those deep eyes were resting
continually upon him, and knew that bit by bit his secret would be
dragged from him. If he could get up and run away--if a customer
would come--if the dark gentleman would go upstairs--if he could
think of something else! But none of these things happened, and James,
at his table with the paste before him, passed a morning compared with
which any seat anywhere in Purgatory would have been comfortable.
Presently a strange feeling came over him, as if some invisible force
was pushing and dragging him and forcing him to leave his chair, and
throw himself at the Philosopher's feet and confess everything. This
was the mesmeric effect of those reproachful eyes fixed steadily upon
him. And in the doorway, like some figure in a nightmare--a figure
incongruous and out of place--the Man in Possession sitting, passive
and unconcerned, with one eye on the street and the other on the shop.
Upstairs Mr. Emblem was sitting fast asleep; joy had made him sleepy;
and Iris was at work among her pupils' letters, compiling sums for the
Fruiterer, making a paper on Conic Sections for the Cambridge man, and
working out Trigonometrical Equations for the young schoolmaster, and
her mind full of a solemn exultation and glory, for she was a woman
who was loved. The other things troubled her but little. Her
grandfather would get back his equilibrium of mind; the shop might be
shut up, but that mattered little. Arnold, and Lala Roy, and her
grandfather, and herself, would all live together, and she and Arnold
would work. The selfishness of youth is really astonishing.
Nothing--except perhaps toothache--can make a girl unhappy who is
loved and newly betrothed. She may say what she pleases, and her face
may be a yard long when she speaks of the misfortunes of others, but
all the time her heart is dancing.

To Lala Roy, the situation presented a problem with insufficient data,
some of which would have to be guessed. A letter, now lost, said that
a certain case contained papers necessary to obtain an unknown
inheritance for Iris. How then to ascertain whether anybody was
expecting or looking for a girl to claim an inheritance? Then there
was half a coat-of-arms, and lastly there was a certain customer of
unknown name, who had been acquainted with Iris's father before his
marriage. So far for Iris. As for the thief, Lala Roy had no doubt