fore them, baffled Thomas Corbet, who left the room,
affecting to be too indignant to reply.

"Now," proceeded his father, "he knows he has stated a falsehood. I
have proof for every word I said, and for every circumstance. There's a
paper," he added, "a pound note, that will prove one link in the chain,
for the very person's name that is written on it by the poor young man
himself, I have here. He can prove the mark on his neck, when in outlier
despair, the poor creature made an attempt on his own life with a piece
of glass. And what is more, I have the very clothes they both wore when
I took them away. In short, I have everything full and clear; but I did
not let either my son or daughter know of my exchangin' the childre',
and palmin' Thomas Gourlay's own son on him as the son of his brother.
That saicret I kept to myself, knowin' that I couldn't trust them. And
now, Thomas Gourlay," he said, "my revenge is complete. There you stand,
a guilty and a disgraced man; and with all your wisdom, and wealth, and
power, what were you but a mere tool and puppet in my hands up to
this hour? There you stand, without a house that you can call your
own--stripped of your false title--of your false property--but not
altogether of your false character, for the world knew pretty well what
that was."

Corbet's daughter then came forward, and laying her hand on the
baronet's shoulder, said, "Do you know me, Thomas Gourlay?"

"No," replied the other, looking at her with fury; "you are a spectre;
I have seen you before; you appeared to me once, and your words were
false. Begone, you are a spectre--a spirit of evil."

"I am the spirit of death to you," she replied; "but my prophetic
announcement was true. I called you Thomas Gourlay then, and I call you
Thomas Gourlay now--for such is your name; and your false title is
gone. That young man there, named after you, is my son, and you are his
father--for I am Jacinta Corbet: so far my father's words are true; and
if it were not for his revenge, my son would have inherited your name,
title, and property. Here now I stand the victim of your treachery and
falsehood, which for years have driven me mad. But now the spirit of
the future is upon me; and I tell you, that I read frenzy, madness, and
death in your face. You have been guilty of great crimes, but you will
be guiltier of a greater and a darker still. I read that in your
coward spirit, for I know you well. I also am revenged, but I have