held in check as yet by a tense anxiety as
to the end of the struggle she had plunged the man who loved her in.
She could picture him standing with his grave quietness face to face
with ruin, and holding on until the last faint hope had gone. Still,
it seemed almost impossible that he should be beaten, and the curious
confidence she had had in him reasserted itself and crept as a ray of
brightness into the darkness of her humiliation. That might be borne
or grappled with afterwards if Alton came out triumphant, but in the
meanwhile she dare not think of herself or what she had done.
Presently there was a tapping at the door, and a maid came in.

"There's a lady--Miss Townshead--waiting to see you, miss," she said.

Now Alice Deringham was the reverse of a timid woman, but for a few
moments she felt her courage fail. Every instinct in her shrank from
that meeting, but the maid had no cause to suspect it when she rose
languidly and followed her. The interview was not of long duration,
and nobody ever heard all that passed between the two, but when
Seaforth, who had been waiting anxiously, handed Miss Townshead into
the cars her eyes were misty.

"Was it very hard?" he said.

"No," the girl said slowly; "not after the beginning. I was angry when
I went in, and I came away only sorry for her. There is a great deal
more that is lovable in Miss Deringham than I ever fancied there could
be."

"Yes," said Seaforth sapiently. "But it's much better when there's
nothing else, which is the case with somebody I know. I like my gold
free from alloy."

It was the next day when Deringham found his daughter alone in the
sunny corner of the verandah. He carried a handful of papers, and the
girl noticed that while he looked ill and haggard there was relief in
his face. It was, however, with a vacant curiosity she waited for him
to speak, for she had risen heavy-eyed and listless after a sleepless
night. Deringham leaned against the balustrade in front of her, and
appeared to find it somewhat difficult to begin.

"I have just spent an hour with Mr. Alton and a lawyer, and have
something of importance to tell you," he said.

"I am listening," said the girl languidly, though Deringham fancied
there were signs of a sudden intentness in her face.

"We will commence at the beginning. Alton appears to have been
doubtful respecting his right to Carnaby, and seems to have felt in the
first place that it would not be fitting