ble secret
societies, that do no good, but incalculable harm. Perhaps he may have
inspired her with an insane idea of avenging her mother; and now she has
shared her mother's fate!"

"I will not believe that till I have proof positive," I said slowly.

"But how can you get such proof?" he asked.

"I don't know yet; but I'm going to seek it--to seek her!"

"You will return to Russia?"

"Why, yes; I meant to do that all along; whatever you might have told me
would have made no difference to that determination!"

"But, my dear young man, you will be simply throwing your life away!" he
remonstrated.

"I think not, and it's not very valuable, anyway. I thank you for your
story, sir; it helps me to understand things a bit,--Anne's motive, and
her father's; and it gives me a little hope that they may have escaped,
for the time, anyhow. He evidently knew the neighborhood well, or he
couldn't have turned up at that meeting; and if once he could get her
safely back to Petersburg, he could claim protection for them both at
the Embassy, though--"

"If he had been able to do that, surely he or she would have
communicated with your cousin, Mrs. Cayley?" he asked, speaking the
thought that was in my own mind.

"That's so; still there's no use in conjecturing. You'll not let my
cousin get even a hint of what I've told you, Mr. Treherne? If she
finds out that Pencarrow belongs to Mr. Pendennis, she'll surely
cross-question you about him, and Mary's so sharp that she'll see at
once you're concealing something from her, if you're not very discreet."

"Thanks for the warning. I promise you that I'll be very discreet, Mr.
Wynn," he assured me. "Dear me--dear me, it seems incredible that such
things should be!"

It did seem incredible, there in that peaceful old-world room, with
never a sound to break the silence but the lazy murmur of the waves, far
below; heard faintly but distinctly,--a weird, monotonous, never ceasing
undersong.

We parted cordially; he came right out to the porch, and I was afraid
he might offer to walk some of the way with me. I wanted to be alone to
try and fix things up in my mind; for though the history of Anne's
parentage gave me a clue to her motives, there was much that still
perplexed me.

Why had she always told Mary that she knew nothing of Russia,--had never
been there? Well, doubtless that was partly for Mary's own sake, to
spare her anxiety, and partly because of the vital necessity for
se