usband had just died, leaving nothing, she had her own
_dot_, on the income of which she could have lived. But that didn't suit
her. Her husband had left a mother, who had neither _dot_ nor anything
else in the world. At the age of sixty the old woman was a pauper. My
little lady came to see me in order to transfer all her own money
secretly to her mother-in-law, and face the world herself with empty
hands."

"My God!" Derek breathed, just audibly. Miss Lucilla sat upright and
tense, hot tears starting to her eyes.

"Plucky, wasn't it?" the uncle went on, complacently. "I didn't approve
of it at first, but I let her do it in the end, knowing that some good
fellow would make it up to her."

"Don't joke, uncle," Derek cried, nervously. "It's too serious for
that."

"I'm not joking. It's what I did think. And if the world wasn't full of
idiots who couldn't tell diamonds from glass, a little woman like that
would have been snapped up long ago."

Derek sprang up and strode across the room.

"Do you mean to tell me," he demanded, turning abruptly, "that she made
over all her money to Mrs. Eveleth--a woman who has deserted her, like
the rest of us?"

"That's what she did; but there's this to be said for the old lady, that
she doesn't know it. She thinks it's the wreck of her own fortune, and
Diane wouldn't let me tell her the truth. Since you seem to be
interested in the little story," he added, with sarcasm, "you may hear
all about it."

With tolerable accuracy he gave the details of his first interview with
Diane, three years previous. Long before he finished, Lucilla was
weeping silently, while Derek stood like a man turned to stone. Even the
banker's own face took on an expression of whimsical gravity as he said
in conclusion:

"And so I've decided to give her a home--that is," he added,
significantly, "if no one else will."

"Do you mean that for me?" Derek asked, in a tone too low for Lucilla to
hear it.

"Oh no--not particularly. I mean it for--any one."

"Because," Derek went on, "as for me--I'm not worthy to have her under
my roof."

The banker made no comment, sitting in a hunched attitude and humming to
himself in a cracked voice while Derek stared down at him.

They were still in this position when Marion Grimston was shown in.

XXV

Greetings having been exchanged, it was Miss Lucilla's policy to draw
her uncle away to some other room, leaving Marion free to have her
conference with