Then he rose to his feet, looked down at him for a few moments, and went away to summon Koda Bux, his old Pathan bearer, to help him to take him up to bed. He kn

him. When they reached the library Sir Arthur pointed without a word to where Vane lay. He

burning in his brain and in his blood. It is a thing that no others should know of. He shall sleep in hi

d Sir Arthur. "Now I will he

ctor of the poor, shouldst trouble t

lifted him up as easily as if he had been a lad of ten. Sir Arthur took up the

move his clothes. He saw that he could do no more good, so, after laying his hand for a moment on V

I know how to fight the devil that is in him and throw

This is the first time, and

standing up and stretching out his hands palms downwards.

f of heaven and half of hell. It was the face of the girl he had wooed and worked for and won nearly thirty years before-a girl whose hands for a brief sp

in and again what inscrutable fate had brought this girl, the fresh, bright, living image of the woman

ch he had himself seen in eyes into which he had once looked as a lad of twenty-four with anxious adoration to read his fate in them. For years that flickering, wavering

he miserable, pitiful story at once, as soon, indeed, as Vane's own story had convinced him that he had not

ephtha to keep his rash vow and drive the steel into his daughter's breast. He had hoped that the resolves which

at such poor precautions as this. Measures infinitely more drastic would be nee

ity had come at last. There could be no doubt of that. He had left his son sane and strong, with brave, wise words on his lips. An hour

ilence and famine in distant lands, Arthur Maxwell was a man of deep though mostly silent religious convictions, and if ever there was a time when such a man could find strength and guidance in prayer surely this

ask must be faced and carried through, and he was more strongly determined than ever that before the next day was over Vane should know everything that he coul

into an uneasy sleep. Just about this time Vane woke-his mouth parched, his brain burning and throbbing, a

alf a groan. "Great Scott, what a head I've got! Ah, I remember n

he shores of the Sea of Sorrow. Now your head is wracked with the torments of hell, and your mouth is like a cave in the desert; but

le into a glass, and came back to the bedside with the glass in one hand and th

sleep! When you wak

nd the glass back to Koda and thank him before his burning brain grew cool, his nerves ceased to thrill, a delightful languor stole over him, and he sank back on the pillow and

Then he went downstairs and brewed Sir Arthur's morning coffee as usual. This was always the first of his daily t

has not slept all night; still, this is a sleep which rests not nor refr

fee. Then he asked how Vane was, and when he knew that he was sleeping again, and wo

Green. He remembered the address that Miss Carol had given Vane just as he remembered every other word of the conversation. He had

but cosy and comfortable-looking, each with a tiny little plot of ground in front and behind, and with a row

g woman of about forty instead of by the dishevelled, sm

here?" he asked, with a cur

finishing breakfast. Will you come in an

, going in. "I wish to se

howed him into a prettily-furnished little sitting-roo

Miss Vane, and tell her that she will do me a great service by giving

y of this bronzed, white-haired gentleman. He was so very different from the general run of visitors at No. 15; but she had half guessed his errand b

from the letter she was reading, "who might tha

name is Sir Arthu

d rising quickly from her chair. "Sir Ar

bliged to you if you could give him the

ght just when my new acquaintance got out. His father, of course. I suppose

ora, with a smile which parted a pair of eminently kissab

er. She had soft, lightish-brown hair, brown eyebrows, a trifle browner, perhaps, t

nd interview the irate papa. But whatever did young hopeful want to

hink that's it. The gentleman isn't at all angry. He was as p

atever it is. I don't suppose I shall be very long. Meanwhile, Dora, you may as well make yourself useful and dust the bikes. The old gentl

eflection in the glass as she passed the

There were not many circumstances under which she did not feel capable of taking perfect care of herself. Still, she confessed to Dora afterwards that when she went into the

herself. She had, of course, nothing to be afraid of, and therefore there was no cause for fear, but

at and pretty in a dainty, grey, tailor-made cycling costume, walked into the room, he was unable to restrain a very

nd new Oxford degree, and his first place on the Indian Civil Service list only just published, walking down a country

ekeeper tells me that y

the attitude, everything. But the words brought him back to the present, and t

ty of calling to ask you if you would have any objection to a litt

thinking that you are Mr. Vane Maxwell's father, and I suppose, too, you are the gentleman who was at the corner of Wa

d, to avoid any misunderstanding, I had better say at once that, though I was naturally

can quite understand that a gentleman like you would be a bit disgusted to find a likeness between your son and a

ow what I am, and so do you, and if you don't want to talk to me any longer you needn't." But she was

ces have made you. I don't want you to think that I have come here to preach at you. That is no business of mine. Still, I am deeply grieved, though I daresay you have no

go away and cry. She didn't exactly know why, but she was certainly experiencing a very uncomfortable feeling which was m

you know, a good many thousands in London alone, I believe, and I suppose you would feel sorry for any of

folded her hands over her knee, leaning

y into her eyes, "because you are the living image of the woman who was once

," she said, "that is to say,

ou so many questions, I know, when I tell you why I ask the

d, "as far as I know. I was born on the twent

beside you now as she was thirty years ago, dressed as you are now, it would be almost impossible to t

r not, but an English musician in Dresden, one of my mother's friends, called me Carol when I was quite a little mi

her your mother w

ol with a simple directness which went straight to Sir Arthur's heart. "Of course, that was when I was quite a little thing, about eight or nine. Then

d one looked like a police agent-nearly a month before. He didn't know where she'd gone to, and from that day to this I've never hea

me, so if you please I will ask you one or two more

replied. "Please ask m

on was already forming in her mind that this bronzed,

to ask you first whether you happen t

k her head deci

where we were then-I was so angry that I took it out and tore it up. I daresay it was very wrong of me, but I couldn't

t it," said Sir A

ingly as he said this, but

d recognise a photograp

anywhere about the t

of his pocket. "This was taken quite twenty years ago, a year

o, and as she took it she saw that his hand was trembling. She took the old-fashioned, faded photograph

at is my

. The sting of the old shame came back very keenly. The old wound was already open and bleeding again. All the pride and hope and love of his life were centred now on his brilliant son. A few hours before he had learnt that his mother had transmitted

like hers! No one seeing her and Vane together could possibly take them for anything but brother and sister-and but for this marvellous likeness; but for the subtle instinct of kindred

w-and don't care, most likely?" Carol add

he truth, I was one of the men who took he

e from him. "Then it was really you who turn

ame, my son's name, a scandal throughout Europe. She was a hopeless dipsomaniac. I had, believe me, I had suffered for years all that an honourable man could

ery hard on you and your son. And I don't suppose it made much difference to me after all. She'd have sold me to someone as soon as I was old

gret to say, and with no hope of recovery. The physicians I consulted told me that she must have had the germs of alcoholic insanity in her blood from her very birth. She told us that she had a daughter, and we

w, or that you'd found me. Things might have been

egan, "but still, even now per

she interrupted, so decisively that he saw at once t

ou, could be farther from my intention. Now I have troubled you enough, and mo

s he paused for a moment. "If I have been of any service to yo

one of two bicycles down with a cloth in the little back garden, and he went on: "But I see you are getting ready to go for a ride. I mu

dame of his acquaintance. She looked up sharply as though to say, "Do you really mean to shake hand