the matter drop, so he carried Mrs Daulton off to the library,
and learned from her that the child had been lent to her by a priest!

"`Lent, my dear madam?' said my father.

"`Yes, lent. The priest laughed when he presented her, but said the
child was the orphan daughter of a distant relation of his who had left
her to his care. He did not want her, or know what to do with her, and
offered to _give_ her to us. My husband said he could not accept such a
gift, but he would gladly accept her as a loan! We both disbelieved the
priest, for he was a bad man; but, as we were much in want of a
companion for our own little girl at the time, we accepted her, and
brought her here. The priest died suddenly, and as there was no one
else to claim her, we have kept her ever since, and right glad we are to
have her.'

"`You won't have her long,' said my sweet father, in his usual blunt and
pleasant way. `I am convinced that I know her father. Of course Arnold
is a name you gave her?' `No; when she came to us she said her name was
Mariquita, but she knew of no other name. It was the priest who told,
us her surname was Arnold.'

"Well, Pedro, to bring my story to an end, my father told the Daultons
all about you, and got them to lend Mariquita to us. That was two years
ago. Since then she has dwelt with us as my very dear sister. My
father knew you were in Peru at the time, and his purpose was to wait
till you should return, and present Mariquita unexpectedly to you to see
if you would recognise each other. Therefore he did not mention her
when he wrote asking you so urgently to return here. Neither did he
mention his suspicions to Mariquita herself. We just led her to
understand that we found her company so pleasant that we wished her to
remain with us for a long visit. Then came news of the illness of a
dear relation of mine in Chili. I was sent by my father to see and
nurse her. At parting he told me if I should by any chance meet with
you, I was on no account to speak or even hint at this matter. Little
did either of us think at the time that I was destined to make so long a
journey under your care. And you know, Senhor Pedro, that I am not bad
at keeping secrets. I not only obeyed my father in this matter, but I
faithfully obeyed yourself when you imposed on me the necessity of
keeping my disguise secret from Senhor Armstrong."

"You did, Manuela, faithfully."

"And it was very hard to do, let me assure y