tter. He has had the whole country searched; but hitherto without
success."

"I know _where_ she will be found, and _how_," rejoined Jack with a
shudder.

"I have something further to tell you," pursued Winifred. "Shortly
after your last visit to Dollis Hill, my father was one evening waylaid
by a man, who informed him that he had something to communicate
respecting Thames, and had a large sum of money, and some important
documents to deliver to him, which would be given up, provided he would
undertake to procure your liberation."

"It was Blueskin," observed Jack.

"So my father thought," replied Winifred; "and he therefore instantly
fired upon him. But though the shot took effect, as was evident from the
stains on the ground, the villain escaped."

"Your father did right," replied Jack, with some bitterness. "But if he
had not fired that shot, he might have saved Thames, and possessed
himself of papers which would have established his birth, and his right
to the estates of the Trenchard family."

"Would you have had him spare my mother's murderer?" cried Winifred.

"Ho, no," replied Jack. "And yet--but it is only part of the chain of
ill-luck that seems wound around me. Listen to me, Winifred."

And he hastily related the occurrences in Jonathan Wild's house.

The account of the discovery of Sir Rowland's murder filled Winifred
with alarm; but when she learnt what had befallen Thames--how he had
been stricken down by the thief-taker's bludgeon, and left for dead, she
uttered a piercing scream, fainted, and would have fallen, if Jack had
not caught her in his arms.

Jack had well-nigh fallen too. The idea that he held in his arms the
girl whom he had once so passionately loved, and for whom he still
retained an ardent but hopeless attachment, almost overcame him. Gazing
at her with eyes blinded with tears, he imprinted one brotherly kiss
upon her lips. It was the first--and the last!

At this juncture, the handle of the door was tried, and the voice of Mr.
Wood was heard without, angrily demanding admittance.

"What's the matter?" he cried. "I thought I heard a scream. Why is the
door fastened? Open it directly!"

"Are you alone?" asked Jack, mimicking the voice of Kneebone.

"What for?" demanded Wood. "Open the door, I say, or I'll burst it
open."

Carefully depositing Winifred on a sofa, Jack then extinguished the
light, and, as he unfastened the door, crept behind it. In rushed Mr.
Wood, with a ca