s of
her hair.

To this girl, who was the soul of truth, there was deepest shame in the
idea that her kinswoman, the woman whom of all the world she most owed
reverence and honour, could be deemed capable of falsehood.

'Do you think my grandmother would tell me an untruth?'

'I do not believe that man is a poor dependent, an old servant's
kinsman, sheltered and cared for in this house for charity's sake.
Forgive me, Mary, if I doubt the word of one you love; but there are
positions in life in which a man must judge for himself. Would Mr.
Steadman's kinsman be lodged as that old man is lodged; would he talk as
that old man talks; and last and greatest perplexity of all, would he
possess a treasure of gold and jewels which must be worth many
thousands?'

'But you cannot know for certain that those things are valuable; they
may be rubbish that this poor old man has scraped together and hoarded
for years, glass jewels bought at country fairs. Those rouleaux may
contain lead or coppers.'

'I do not think so, Mary. The stones had all the brilliancy of valuable
gems, and then there were others in the finest filagree
settings--goldsmith's work which bore the stamp of an Eastern world.
Take my word for it, that treasure came from India; and it must have
been brought to England by Lord Maulevrier. It may have existed all
these years without your grandmother's knowledge. That is quite
possible; but it seems to me impossible that such wealth should be
within the knowledge and the power of a pauper lunatic.'

'But if that unhappy old man is not a relation of Steadman's supported
here by my grandmother's benevolence, who can he be, and why is he
here?' asked Mary.

'Oh, Molly dear, these are two questions which I cannot answer, and
which yet ought to be answered somehow. Since that night I have felt as
if there were a dark cloud lowering over this house--a cloud almost as
terrible in its menace of danger as the forshadowing of fate in a Greek
legend. For your sake, for the honour of your race, for my own
self-respect as your husband, I feel that this mystery ought to be
solved, and all dark things made light before your grandmother's death.
When she is gone the master-key to the past will be lost.'

'But she will be spared for many years, I hope, spared to sympathise
with my happiness, and with Lesbia's.'

My dearest girl, we cannot hope that. The thread of her life is worn
very thin. It may snap at any moment. You canno