to
have it done. She told Obed that they were living in seclusion, that
Hilda had charge of the finances, and drew all the checks. Of course
Messrs. Tilton and Browne had been led to believe that she was the
Ella Lorton who had deposited the money. In this way it was easy for
her, after getting her sister out of the way, to obtain the money
herself.

After Obed Chute heard this he remained silent for a long time.

"My poor child," said he at last, in tones full of pity, "you could
not imagine once what motive this Hilda could have for betraying you.
Here you have motive enough. It is a very coarse one; but yet men
have been betraying one another for less than this since the world
began. There was once a certain Judas who carried out a plan of
betrayal for a far smaller figure. But tell me. Have you never
associated Gualtier and Hilda in your thoughts as partners in this
devilish plot?"

"I see now that they must have been," said Zillah. "I can believe
nothing else."

"You have said that Gualtier was in attendance on you for years?"

"Yes."

"Did you ever notice any thing like friendship between these two?"

"She always seemed to hold herself so far above him that I do not see
how they could have had any understanding."

"Did he seem to speak to her more than to you?"

"Not at all. I never noticed it. He accompanied her to London,
though, when she went about the money."

"That looks like confidence. And then she sent him to take you to
Naples to put you out of the way?"

Zillah sighed.

"Tell me. Do you think she could have loved Gualtier?"

"It seems absurd. Any thing like love between those two is
impossible."

"It's my full and firm conviction," said Obed Chute, after deep
thought, "that this Gualtier gained your friend's affections, and he
has been the prime mover in this. Both of them must be deep ones,
though. Yet I calculate she is only a tool in his hands. Women will
do any thing for love. She has sacrificed you to him. It isn't so bad
a case as it first looked."

"Not so bad!" said Zillah, in wonder. "What is worse than to betray a
friend?"

"When a woman betrays a friend for the sake of a lover she only does
what women have been engaged in doing ever since the world began.
This Gualtier has betrayed you both--first by winning your friend's
love, and then by using her against you. And that is the smart game
which he has played so well as to net the handsome figure of L30,000
sterling--on