you ought to have told you that she could have been won by no
rustic."

Lady Linton shrugged her shoulders expressively.

"As for your letters," she said, flashing a swift, keen glance at him, "if
you think they have been tampered with on this side of the Atlantic, I
advise you to question Robert, since he has the exclusive charge of your
mail-bag."

"Robert, indeed! I would as soon question my own honesty as his; besides,
no one has a key to it but myself," Sir William asserted, confidently.

Lady Linton breathed freely now, for it was evident that he had no
suspicion of her.

"True; and Robert has been faithful too many years to be lightly
suspected," she remarked, appreciatively.

"But this suspense is insupportable! It is killing me!" cried her brother,
rising, and excitedly pacing the floor.

"No doubt it is trying," his sister replied, coldly.

"Trying!" he repeated, bitterly; "you are very sympathetic, Miriam; you
are as cold as ice."

"Well, William, you know well enough that I never approved of your
marriage. It was a great blow to both mamma and me that you should marry
so out of your element; and therefore you cannot expect me to be so
heart-broken over the mysterious disappearance of your wife as I might
have been if you married--Sadie, for instance."

"I wish you wouldn't throw Sadie Farnum at me upon every occasion; I never
had any intention of marrying her," retorted Sir William, with an angry
flush.

"More is the pity; I could have loved her dearly as a sister," responded
Lady Linton, in an injured tone. "But," she added, after a thoughtful
pause, "it seems you were mistaken in thinking that your wife was
collecting proofs of her marriage with the intention of coming here to
claim her position. If that had been her plan, doubtless she would have
been here long ago."

"Yes--oh! I cannot understand it; but, if I ever discover <i>who</i> has been
at the bottom of this mischief, it will be a sad day for that individual!"
cried the' baronet, with stern emphasis.

Lady Linton suddenly stooped to brush a thread from her black dress, and
when she sat upright again there was considerable more color than usual in
her face.

"I am troubled to see you so unhappy, William," she said, more kindly than
she had yet spoken, "and perhaps, after all, a change will be the best
thing for you. What are your plans?"

"I have none. I simply wish to get away from myself, if that is possible;
to steep my trou