to Luke to deliver--one with a cross to be handed to
Lady Audley, and the other to the nephew of Sir Michael, and then took
train to London in a second-class carriage.

Phoebe, who had seen from her window Lady Audley pushing George Talboys
into the well, said that my lady was in their power, and that she would
do anything for them to keep her secret. So the letters were not
delivered.

He hid them away; not a creature had seen them. The old mother, who had
been present throughout the confession, took the papers from a drawer
and handed them to Robert Audley.

The note to Robert said that something had happened to the writer, he
could not tell what, which drove him from England, a broken-hearted man,
to seek some corner of the earth where he might live and die unknown and
forgotten. He left his son in his friend's hands, knowing that he could
leave him to no truer guardian. The second note was addressed "Helen,"
saying, "May God pity and forgive you for that which you have done
to-day, as truly as I do. Rest in peace. You shall never hear from me
again. I leave England, never to return.--G. T."

Luke Marks died that afternoon. Robert Audley wrote a long letter the
same evening, addressed to Madame Taylor, in which he told the story
related by Marks; and as soon as possible he went down to Dorsetshire to
inform George Talboys's father that his son was alive. He stayed five
weeks at Grange Heath, and the love which had come to him at first sight
of Clara Talboys rapidly ripened.

Consent to the marriage was given, with a blessing by the old
Roman-minded squire, and the pair agreed to go on their honeymoon trip
to Australia to look for the son and brother. Robert returned for the
last time to his bachelor chambers in the Temple. He was told that a
visitor was waiting for him. The visitor was George Talboys, and he
opened his arms to his lost friend with a cry of delight and surprise.
The tale was soon told. When George fell into the well he was stunned
and bruised, and his arm broken. After infinite pains and difficulties
he climbed to the top and hid in a clump of laurel bushes till the
arrival of Luke Marks. He had not been to Australia after all, but had
exchanged his berth on board the Victoria Regia for another in a ship
bound for New York. There he remained for a time till he yearned for the
strong clasp of the hand which guided him through the darkest passage of
his life.

Two years passed. In a fairy cottage