ightest
in color, of the two kinds of hair of which it was made, was Carr's
hair, because it exactly resembled the surplus lock sent back by
the jeweler, and enclosed in Jane Holdsworth's letter. He made the
comparison and discovered the resemblance at a glance. The evidence of
his own eyesight, which was enough for this, was also enough to satisfy
him immediately that Arthur Carr's hair was, in color, as nearly as
possible the exact opposite of Mr. Blyth's hair.

Still, though the painter was assuredly not the father, might he not
know who the father was, or had been? How could he otherwise have got
possession of Mary Grice's bracelet and Mary Grice's child?

These two questions suggested a third in Mat's mind. Should he discover
himself at once to Mr. Blyth; and compel him, by fair means or foul, to
solve all doubts, and disclose what he knew?

No: not at once. That would be playing, at the outset, a desperate and
dangerous move in the game, which had best be reserved to the last.
Besides, it was useless to think of questioning Mr. Blyth just
now--except by the uncertain and indiscreet process of following him
into the country--for he had settled to take his departure from London,
early the next morning.

But it was now impossible to rest, after what had been already
discovered, without beginning, in one direction or another, the attempt
to find out Arthur Carr. Mat's purpose of doing this sprang from the
strongest of all resolutions--a vindictive resolution. That dangerous
part of the man's nature which his life among the savages and his
wanderings in the wild places of the earth had been stealthily nurturing
for many a long year past, was beginning to assert itself, now that he
had succeeded in penetrating the mystery of Madonna's parentage by
the mother's side. Placed in his position, the tender thought of their
sister's child would, at this particular crisis, have been uppermost in
many men's hearts. The one deadly thought of the villain who had been
Mary's ruin was uppermost in Mat's.

He pondered but a little while on the course that he should pursue,
before the idea of returning to Dibbledean, and compelling Joanna Grice
to tell more than she had told at their last interview, occurred to him.
He disbelieved the passage in her narrative which stated that she had
seen and heard nothing of Arthur Carr in all the years that had elapsed
since the flight and death of her niece: he had his own conviction, or
rat