of his absence.

Presently the door opened, and the young man entered. Lord Barminster
held out his hand without a word, and his son, as silently, grasped it;
then, with a sigh, he seated himself at the table, prepared to learn to
what extent he had been robbed by the man he trusted so fully.

Without comment, Shelton passed him paper after paper, all drawn up in
the clear writing of Mr. Harker; Adrien, with deep humiliation,
examining them all. With another sigh he dropped the last one upon the
table and looked up.

"It is like some hideous dream," he said in a low, shocked voice.
"Jasper Vermont, then, was not a traitor to me, but a forger and thief.
I can scarcely believe it--though, of course, it is impossible to get
away from these proofs. He must have even bribed that jockey to lose the
race, as the man hinted. That he could so have used my trust and
confidence to gain money, and by crime, when he could have had it for
the asking, seems past belief."

His father looked pityingly at him; he knew only too well what a blow
this was to the young man.

"I believed in him to the last," continued Adrien, in the same low
tones. "I believed him true, in spite of all your warnings."

He turned to his friend.

"Shelton," he said, "I cannot thank you as I should like, nor indeed you
either, Mr. Harker. I am deeply grateful to you all for what you have
done for me. Truly a man should take heed of his self-conceit, lest he
fall, as I have done."

He dropped his head on his hands, and his father turned to him
affectionately.

"You do not ask if the evil this man has worked can be remedied,
Adrien," he said, in a softer tone than he had ever been known to use.
"You do not ask whether anything can be regained?"

"I am willing to pay the penalty of my folly," said Adrien, in a low
tone; "and if only it can be arranged that you, too, do not suffer, I
shall not mind."

"Not even if it should leave you penniless?" asked his father.

Adrien raised his head with a mournful smile.

"But for one reason, I am indifferent," he said.

His father's face lit up.

"Yes," he said, "I think I know that reason. Mr. Harker, will you be so
good as to place Mr. Leroy in possession of the facts which you have
already given me. I am almost too tired to speak, after the strain of
these last few hours."

Adrien looked at him remorsefully; for the old man had indeed undergone
much suffering during the last eventful weeks.

Mr. Hark