lf hidden up
the sleeve of his dressing-gown. What the nature of the object was I
failed to discover.

"And when I happened to speak of you somewhere," he went on, "I forget
where--a member of my congregation--I don't recollect who it was--told
me you were connected with the aristocracy. How were you connected?"

He surprised me; but, however he had got his information, he had not
been deceived. I told him that I was connected, through my mother, with
the family to which he had alluded.

"The aristocracy!" he repeated. "A race of people who are rich without
earning their money, and noble because their great-grandfathers were
noble before them. They live in idleness and luxury--profligates who
gratify their passions without shame and without remorse. Deny, if you
dare, that this is a true description of them."

It was really pitiable. Heartily sorry for him, I pacified him again.

"And don't suppose I forget that you are one of them. Do you hear me, my
noble friend?"

There was no help for it--I made another conciliatory reply.

"So far," he resumed, "I don't complain of you. You have not attempted
to deceive me--yet. Absolute silence is what I require next. Though you
may not suspect it, my mind is in a ferment; I must try to think."

To some extent at least, his thoughts betrayed themselves in his
actions. He put the object that I had half seen in his hand into the
pocket of his dressing-gown, and moved to the toilet-table. Opening one
of the drawers, he took from it a folded sheet of paper, and came back
to me.

"A minister of the Gospel," he said, "is a sacred man, and has a horror
of crime. You are safe, so far--provided you obey me. I have a solemn
and terrible duty to perform. This is not the right place for it. Follow
me downstairs."

He led the way out. The doctor, waiting in the passage, was not near the
stairs, and so escaped notice. "What is it?" Mr. Wellwood whispered.
In the same guarded way, I said: "He has not told me yet; I have been
careful not to irritate him." When we descended the stairs, the doctor
followed us at a safe distance. He mended his pace when the Minister
opened the door of the study, and when he saw us both pass in. Before he
could follow, the door was closed and locked in his face. Mr. Gracedieu
took out the key and threw it through the open window, into the garden
below.

Turning back into the room, he laid the folded sheet of paper on the
table. That done, he spoke to me