raging conclusion from this
one circumstance.

"I am anxious to know how I stand in your estimation," he replied.
"Early this evening, I left a few lines here, enclosing a letter--with
my compliments. Have you received the letter?"

"Yes."

"Have you read it?"

Mrs. Gallilee hesitated. Mr. Le Frank smiled.

"I won't trouble you, madam, for any more direct reply," he said; "I
will speak plainly. Be so good as to tell me plainly, on your side,
which I am--a man who has disgraced himself by stealing a letter? or a
man who has distinguished himself by doing you a service?"

An unpleasant alternative, neatly defined! To disavow Mr. Le Frank or to
use Mr. Le Frank--there was the case for Mrs. Gallilee's consideration.
She was incapable of pronouncing judgment; the mere effort of decision,
after what she had suffered, fatigued and irritated her. "I can't deny,"
she said, with weary resignation, "that you have done me a service."

He rose, and made a generous return for the confidence that had been
placed in him--he repeated his magnificent bow, and sat down again.

"Our position towards each other seems too plain to be mistaken," he
proceeded. "Your niece's letter--perfectly useless for the purpose with
which I opened it--offers me a means of being even with Miss Carmina,
and a chance of being useful to You. Shall I begin by keeping an eye on
the young lady?"

"Is that said, Mr. Le Frank, out of devotion to me?"

"My devotion to you might wear out," he answered audaciously. "You may
trust my feeling towards your niece to last--I never forget an injury.
Is it indiscreet to inquire how you mean to keep Miss Carmina from
joining her lover in Quebec? Does a guardian's authority extend to
locking her up in her room?"

Mrs. Gallilee felt the underlying familiarity in these
questions--elaborately concealed as it was under an assumption of
respect.

"My niece is no longer in my house," she answered coldly.

"Gone!" cried Mr. Le Frank.

She corrected the expression. "Removed," she said, and dropped the
subject there.

Mr. Le Frank took the subject up again. "Removed, I presume, under the
care of her nurse?" he rejoined.

The nurse? What did he know about the nurse? "May I ask--?" Mrs.
Gallilee began.

He smiled indulgently, and stopped her there. "You are not quite
yourself to-night," he said. "Permit me to remind you that your niece's
letter to Mr. Ovid Vere is explicit, and that I took the liberty of
reading i