ravelled back to all that had happened since the day their
marriage was fixed--since the day when he first saw a troubled look on
Charlotte's face--and she had told him, though unwillingly, that queer
story of Mrs. Home's. Yes, of course, he knew there was a mystery--a
strange and dark mystery; like a coward he had turned away from
investigating it. He had seen Uncle Jasper's nervous fear; he had seen
Mrs. Home's poverty; he had witnessed Mr. Harman's ill-concealed
disquietude--all this he had seen, all this he had known. But for
Charlotte's sake, he had shut his eyes; Charlotte's sake he had
forbidden his brain to think or his hands to work.--

And now--now--ah! light was dawning. Charlotte had fathomed what he had
feared to look at. Charlotte had seen the dread reality. The secret was
disgraceful. Nothing else could so have changed his one love. Nothing
but disgrace, the disgrace of the one nearest to her, could bring that
look to her face. Scarcely had he thought this before a memory came to
him. He started to his feet as it came back. Charlotte had said, "Before
our wedding-day I will read my grandfather's will." Suppose she had done
so, and her grandfather's will had been--what? Hinton began to see
reason now in her unaccountable determination not to see Webster. She
had doubtless resolved on that very day to go to Somerset House and read
that fatal document. Having made up her mind she would not swerve from
her purpose. Then, though she was firm in her determination, her face
had been bright, her brow unfurrowed, she had still been his own dear
and happy Charlotte. He had not seen her again until she knew all. She
knew all, and her heart and spirit were alike broken. As this fact
became clear to Hinton, a sense of relief and peace came over him; he
began once more to understand the woman he loved. Beside the darkness of
misunderstanding _her_, all other misunderstandings seemed light. She
was still his love, his life; she was still true to herself, to the
beautiful ideal he had enthroned in his heart of hearts. Poor darling!
she would suffer; but he must escape. Loving him as deeply, as devotedly
as ever, she yet would give him up, rather than that he should share in
the downfall of her house. Ah! she did not know him. She could be great;
but so also could he. Charlotte should see that her love was no light
thing for any man to relinquish: she would find that it weighed heavier
in the balance than riches, than fame