er inn, I should have suggested it
myself."

"Oh, yes; no doubt it is better," Millicent said carelessly. "He has
several friends in town, and of course we cannot expect him to be
devoting himself to us."

Mrs. Cunningham raised her eyebrows slightly, but made no answer.
Millicent was seldom wayward, but at present things had gone very hardly
with her, and her friend felt that it would be better to leave her
entirely to herself until her humor changed. In the morning, when Mark
came round, Millicent announced that she felt tired with the drive of
the previous day, and would prefer staying indoors. Mark looked a little
surprised, more at the tone than at the substance of the words, for the
manner in which she spoke showed that the excuse she had given was not
her only reason for not going out.

"Of course, I shall stay at home too," Mrs. Cunningham said quietly, as
he glanced toward her inquiringly. "Millicent is unnerved and shaken,
and perhaps it is just as well for her to have a day's complete rest."

"Very well, Mrs. Cunningham; then I will, as I cannot be of any use to
you, set about my own business for the day. I have already been round
to the lawyer's, and have got a check for Ramoo's legacy. He will be up
this afternoon, and I will go round to Leadenhall Street and find out
what ships are sailing and when they start. I will come in this evening
for a chat."

Millicent sat without speaking for some minutes after he had left the
room. Mrs. Cunningham, whose hands were always busy, took some work out
of a bag and set to work at it industriously. Presently the girl said:

"What business is this that Mark is going to occupy himself in?"

"I do not know much about it," she replied. "But from a few words which
he let drop I believe that he intends to devote himself to discovering
and hunting down your uncle's murderer."

The listless expression faded out at once of Millicent's face.

"But surely, Mrs. Cunningham, that will be very dangerous work."

"No doubt it will be dangerous work, but I don't think that that is
likely to hinder Mark. The man, whoever he may be, is of course a
desperate character, and not likely to be captured without making a
fierce struggle for it."

"Then he ought to put the matter in the hands of the proper
authorities," Millicent said decidedly. "Of course such men are
dangerous. Very likely, this man may have accomplices, and it is not
against one only that Mark will have to fight.