after twenty years' transportation, returned to drag from its
hiding-place. But not to establish the innocence of the living, or of
her who had so mysteriously disappeared; it was for his own
aggrandisement: Brace could feel that, as, with an intense desire upon
him to strangle the cause of so much cruel misery and heart-burning, he
leaned forward.

For in that one brief flash--brief as the time that these thoughts had
taken to dart through his mind--Brace Norton had seen lying, in a
soot-grained hand, flashing in wondrous beauty, the magnificent
true-blue sapphire cross described by Mrs Norton; and as the light was
quenched, Brace had sprung forward, clutching glittering gems with one
hand, and the marauder's throat with the other.

There was a howl of rage and astonishment from the man he clutched, as,
with his impetuous bound, Brace Norton drove him backwards, but the next
instant the struggle going on was fierce and desperate. Capture and
escape were forgotten in the intense desire to hold the cross. On the
one hand, there was the valuable object panted for during twenty long
years of punishment. On the other, there was fair fame, and also the
hope of reconciliation and future happiness; and, as Brace Norton nerved
himself for the fight, he mentally vowed that he would die sooner than
be conquered.

It was time now to rouse the house, and as, for an instant, he struggled
uppermost he uttered a long, loud cry for help, one which went echoing
through the house, followed by the crashing of slight drawing-room
furniture, the overturning and wrecking of what-nots laden with rare and
curious china. The frail chairs were fallen over and snapped, and once
the man, who fought so fiercely, fell over the fender that he had
dragged from its place, but only to bound up again, and for the struggle
to become more fierce than ever.

It was the battle between youth and activity and the iron muscles of one
who had lived a long and abstemious life of toil, and more than once
Brace Norton could have groaned, as he felt himself gradually growing
weaker and weaker. But he still clutched the cross tightly, in spite of
the furious blows dealt him in the face by his adversary, whose hot
breath came upon the young man's flushed temples now, as, in a
determined effort, he grasped him round both arms in a deadly hug that
threatened to crush his ribs, whilst the next moment Brace felt himself
lifted from the floor and hurled back, his