oked down at the tip of her shoe, and, after a pause, said
demurely:

"Well, I suppose if you don't know the reason, nobody does."

"Why, was it anything connected with me, then?"

"So I have been informed," answered Doreen, more primly than ever.

And then he waited for her to look up; and when she did, he kissed her.
And they didn't exchange a word upon the subject of the long
misunderstanding, but just strolled into the dining-room and saw
pictures in the fire together.

* * * * *

There was no trial and no scandal; there were rumors, and that was all.
Max remained true to his fancy for Carrie, and gave proof of his
sincerity by settling down to work in a merchant's office, after the
manner so dear to his father's heart. And in return, Mr. Wedmore
consented to Carrie's being invited down to The Beeches in the spring,
to be present at Doreen's wedding.

And when Carrie came, several details concerning the life led by her and
the supposed Mrs. Higgs in the house by the docks came to light, and the
last remains of the mystery were cleared away.

She told how her father, passing himself off as Mrs. Higgs, an old
servant in the Horne family, of whom Carrie had heard in the lifetime of
Miss Aldridge, had found her out, had touched her heart by a kindness
evidently genuine, and had prevailed upon her to go and make her home in
the deserted house, which, Mrs. Higgs said, had been intended for her by
her late master.

In the empty house they found that an entrance had been made into the
adjoining warehouse, which had been used by a gang of thieves as a
hiding-place for stolen goods. In the little front shop these ingenious
persons had fashioned an ingenious hiding-place by hollowing out a
tunnel to the river. Into this tunnel the water flowed at high tide; but
when the tide was low an entrance could be effected from the river, by
which the thieves could pass in and out, and in which they could safely
deposit, in a chest in the slimy earth, property too valuable to be left
above ground.

Carrie explained how Mrs. Higgs fraternized with the thieves, before she
herself guessed who they were, and how she had got used to them before
she learned their character, though not before she had grown suspicious
about them. How she had seen Dudley with Mrs. Higgs, without knowing who
he was, and how she had set him down as a suspicious character from the
furtive manner of his visits. How she herse