able sinner as I am; and I will not dispute that my own
spendthrift habits incapacitate me from offering any opinion on the
conduct of other people's pecuniary affairs. But, with all these
allowances and drawbacks, I can tell you one thing, Noel. If you ever
see the elder Miss Vanstone, I venture to prophesy that, for the first
time in your life, you will doubt the propriety of following your
father's example.

"She told me her little story, poor thing, most simply and unaffectedly.
She is now occupying her second situation as a governess--and, as usual,
I, who know everybody, know the family. They are friends of my uncle's,
whom he has lost sight of latterly--the Tyrrels of Portland Place--and
they treat Miss Vanstone with as much kindness and consideration as if
she was a member of the family. One of their old servants accompanied
her to Aldborough, her object in traveling to that place being what the
landlady of the hotel had stated it to be. The family reverses have, it
seems, had a serious effect on Miss Vanstone's younger sister, who has
left her friends and who has been missing from home for some time.
She had been last heard of at Aldborough; and her elder sister, on her
return from the Continent with the Tyrrels, had instantly set out to
make inquiries at that place.

"This was all Miss Vanstone told me. She asked whether you had seen
anything of her sister, or whether Mrs. Lecount knew anything of her
sister--I suppose because she was aware you had been at Aldborough.
Of course I could tell her nothing. She entered into no details on the
subject, and I could not presume to ask her for any. All I did was to
set to work with might and main to assist her inquiries. The attempt
was an utter failure; nobody could give us any information. We tried
personal description of course; and strange to say, the only young lady
formerly staying at Aldborough who answered the description was, of all
the people in the world, the lady you have married! If she had not had
an uncle and aunt (both of whom have left the place), I should have
begun to suspect that you had married your cousin without knowing it!
Is this the clew to the mystery? Don't be angry; I must have my little
joke, and I can't help writing as carelessly as I talk. The end of
it was, our inquiries were all baffled, and I traveled back with Miss
Vanstone and her attendant as far as our station here. I think I shall
call on the Tyrrels when I am next in London. I