very sweetly. It is quite true that he was over
seventy; but nevertheless the smile of a pretty woman still had
charms for him, more especially if there was a tear in her eye the
while;--for Sir Peregrine Orme had a soft heart.

As soon as the door was closed behind him Lady Mason seated herself
in her accustomed chair, and all trace of the smile vanished from her
face. She was alone now, and could allow her countenance to be a true
index of her mind. If such was the case her heart surely was very
sad. She sat there perfectly still for nearly an hour, and during the
whole of that time there was the same look of agony on her brow. Once
or twice she rubbed her hands across her forehead, brushing back her
hair, and showing, had there been any one by to see it, that there
was many a gray lock there mixed with the brown hairs. Had there been
any one by, she would, it may be surmised, have been more careful.

There was no smile in her face now, neither was there any tear in her
eye. The one and the other emblem were equally alien to her present
mood. But there was sorrow at her heart, and deep thought in her
mind. She knew that her enemies were conspiring against her,--against
her and against her son; and what steps might she best take in order
that she might baffle them?

"I have got that woman on the hip now." Those were the words which
Mr. Dockwrath had uttered into his wife's ears, after two days spent
in searching through her father's papers. The poor woman had once
thought of burning all those papers--in old days before she had
become Mrs. Dockwrath. Her friend, Lady Mason, had counselled her
to do so, pointing out to her that they were troublesome, and could
by no possibility lead to profit; but she had consulted her lover,
and he had counselled her to burn nothing. "Would that she had been
guided by her friend!" she now said to herself with regard to that
old trunk, and perhaps occasionally with regard to some other things.

"I have got that woman on the hip at last!" and there had been a
gleam of satisfaction in Samuel's eye as he uttered the words which
had convinced his wife that it was not an idle threat. She knew
nothing of what the box had contained; and now, even if it had not
been kept safe from her under Samuel's private key, the contents
which were of interest had of course gone. "I have business in the
north, and shall be away for about a week," Mr. Dockwrath had said to
her on the following morning.