ur enemy. Why, she has no doubt taken all
possible measures to keep your father's faith in her unshaken, and to
let him die as he has lived, completely deceived by her, and murmuring
with his last breath words of supreme love for her who kills him."

These arguments were so overwhelming, that Henrietta let go the door-
knob, and slowly went back to her seat by the fire. And yet she was far
from being reassured.

"If I were to appeal to the police," she suddenly proposed.

The old lady had come and taken a seat by Henrietta's side. She took her
hands in her own now, and said, gently,--

"Poor child! Do you not see that the whole power of this abominable
creature lies in the fact that she employs means which are not within
the reach of human justice. Believe me, my child, it is best for you to
rely blindly on my brother."

Once more the old dealer had come up to the mantlepiece. He repeated,--

"Yes, Miss Henrietta, rely on me. I have as much reason to curse Sarah
Brandon as you have, and perhaps I hate her more. Rely on me; for my
hatred has now been watching and waiting for years, ever anxious to
reach her, and to avenge my sufferings. Yes, for long years I have been
lying in wait, thirsting for vengeance, lost in darkness, but pursuing
her tracks with the unwearied perseverance of the Indian. For the
purpose of finding out who she is, and who her accomplices are,
whence they came, and how they have met to plot together such fearful
crimes,--for that purpose I have walked in the deepest mud, and stirred
up heaps of infamy. But I have found out all. And yet in the whole life
of Sarah Brandon,--a life of theft and murder,--I have till this moment
not found a single fact which would bring her within the reach of the
law, so cunning is her wickedness."

His face brightened with an air of triumph; and his voice rose high as
he added,--

"But now! This time success seemed to her so sure and so easy, that she
has neglected her usual precautions. Eager to enjoy her millions, and,
in proportion, weary of playing a comedy of love with your father, she
has been too eager. And she is lost if we, on our side, are not also too
eager.

"As to your father, madam, I have my reasons for feeling safe about him.
According to your mother's marriage contract, and in consequence of
a bequest of a million and a half which were left her by one of her
uncles, your father's estate is your debtor to the amount of two
millions; and that