the circumstances to which it related, namely: why Mr. Fabian
had fabricated that false story of the young governess which he palmed
upon his parents; but, in fact, Cora, at that time a child seven years
old, had never heard of it. But she made another inquiry.

"What became of Rose Flowers after she left us? Did she really go to
another place? Who was--Captain Stillwater?"

"Mr. Fabian drove slowly and thoughtfully on without answering her
question until she had repeated it. Then he said:

"Cora, my dear, that is a story I cannot tell you. Let it be enough for
me to say, the Stillwater episode in the life of this lady is the ground
upon which I forbid my wife to visit her and object to my niece
associating with her."

"Does Violet know the Stillwater story?"

"No; not so much of it even as you have heard. Now, look here, Cora, you
think it inconsistent perhaps that I should have brought this woman to
Rockhold years ago to become your governess, and now, when she is my
father's wife, object to your intimacy with her. In the first instance
she has been far, very far, 'more sinned against than sinning;' she had
been very imprudent, that was all. She was really the wife, by Scotch
law, of the boy she ran away with and then lost. I saw nothing in her
case that ought to prevent her entrance into a respectable family, and
Heaven knows I pitied her and tried to save her by bringing her to
Rockhold. I saved her only for a few years. After she left us--but
there, I cannot tell you that story! You must not be intimate with her."

"Yet she is my grandfather's wife!"

"An irreparable misfortune. I can't expose her life to him; such a blow
to his pride might be his death, at his age. No! events must take their
course; but I hope he will not take her to any place where she is likely
to be recognized. Nor do I think he will. He is aging fast, and will be
likely to live quietly at Rockhold."

"And I think she also would avoid such risks. She was terribly
frightened when she recognized the Dean of Olivet. Was he really her
stepfather, the once poor curate?"

"Yes. You see while they were lionizing him in the Eastern cities, his
portrait, with a short biographical notice, was published in one of the
illustrated weeklies, where I read of him, and identified him by
comparing notes with what I had heard."

"How came he to rise so high?"

"Oh, he was a learned divine and eloquent orator. He was well connected,
too. It would seem