cut off my right
hand than do it.'

'Shall you tell him to-night?'

'No, certainly not to-night.'

'To-morrow?'

'Yes, to-morrow or the next day; but I must speak to Mr. O'Brien and Dr.
Ross first.'

Then she left him without saying another word; but it went to his heart
to see her cowering over the fire in her old miserable attitude.

'Mrs. Blake,' he said, following her, 'if you think better of this, will
you write to me? Two or three words will be enough: "I will tell him
myself" just that----' but she made no reply. 'I shall wait in the hope
that I may receive such a note; a few hours' delay will not matter, and
perhaps a little consideration may induce you to be brave. Remember,
there is no wrong-doing except that of heinous and deadly sin that we
may not strive to set right. It needs courage to confess to a
fellow-creature, but love should give you this courage.'

But still she did not move or speak, and he was forced to leave her. He
found Biddy hovering about the dark passage, and he guessed at once that
she had been a listener. A moment's consideration induced him to take
the old woman by the shoulder and draw her into an empty room close by.

She looked somewhat scared at his action. She had a candle in her hand,
and he could see how furtively her wild, hawk-like eyes glanced at him.

'Biddy, I know you are your mistress's trusted friend--that she confides
in you.'

'Ay.'

'Use every argument in your power, then, to induce her to tell her son
about his father.'

'I dare not, sir; she would fly into one of her mad passions and strike
me.'

'Good heavens!'

'I have work enough with her sometimes; she has always had her tantrums
from a child; but I'm used to them, and I know how to humour her. She
will never tell Mr. Cyril; I know them both too well for that.'

'You heard all I said, Biddy. You need not deny it. You have been
listening at the door.'

'It is not me who would deny it,' she returned boldly; but there was a
flush on her withered cheek. 'There is nothing that my mistress could
say that she would wish to keep from me. I have been with her all her
life. As a baby she slept in my bosom, and I loved her as my own child.
Ah, it was an ill day for Miss Olive when she took up with that
good-for-nothing Matthew O'Brien; bad luck to him and his!'

'Nevertheless, he is her husband, Biddy.'

'I don't know about that, sir. I was never married myself, and fourteen
years is a long absence.