ll
featured; and even as it was she was feminine and soft in her gait
and manner. "Does Mrs. Mary Swan live here?" asked Mr. Prendergast in
a mild voice.

She at once said Mrs. Mary Swan did live there; but she stood with
the door in her hand by no means fully opened, as though she did not
wish to ask him to enter; and yet there was nothing in her tone to
repel him. Mr. Prendergast at once felt that he was on the right
scent, and that it behoved him at any rate to make his way into
that house; for if ever a modest-looking daughter was like an
immodest-looking father, that young woman was like Mr. Mollett
senior.

"Then I will see her, if you please," said Mr. Prendergast, entering
the passage without her invitation. Not that he pushed in with
roughness; but she receded before the authority of his tone, and
obeyed the command which she read in his eye. The poor young woman
hesitated as though it had been her intention to declare that Mrs.
Swan was not within; but if so, she had not strength to carry out her
purpose, for in the next moment Mr. Prendergast found himself in the
presence of the woman he had come to seek.

"Mrs. Mary Swan?" said Mr. Prendergast, asking a question as to her
identity.

"Yes, sir, that is my name," said a sickly-looking elderly woman,
rising from her chair.

The room in which the two had been sitting was very poor; but
nevertheless it was neat, and arranged with some attention to
appearance. It was not carpeted, but there was a piece of drugget
some three yards long spread before the fireplace. The wall had been
papered from time to time with scraps of different coloured paper, as
opportunity offered. The table on which the work of the two women was
lying was very old and somewhat rickety, but it was of mahogany; and
Mrs. Mary Swan herself was accommodated with a high-backed arm-chair,
which gave some appearance of comfort to her position. It was now
spring; but they had a small, very small fire in the small grate,
on which a pot had been placed in hopes that it might be induced
to boil. All these things did the eye of Mr. Prendergast take in;
but the fact which his eye took in with its keenest glance was
this,--that on the other side of the fire to that on which sat Mrs.
Mary Swan, there was a second arm-chair standing close over the
fender, an ordinary old mahogany chair, in which it was evident that
the younger woman had not been sitting. Her place had been close to
the table-side, w