face.
But the cloud seemed to have rolled from her mind; her eyes were clear,
if a little frightened. From the glance that passed between Littimer and
herself it was easy to see that the misunderstanding was no more.

"You are surprised to see me here?" said Littimer.

Henson stammered out something and shrank towards, the door. Littimer
ordered him back again. He came with a slinking, dogged air; he avoided
the smiling contempt in Enid's eyes.

"My presence appears to be superfluous," he said, bitterly.

"And mine appears to be a surprise," Littimer replied. "Come, are you not
glad to see me, my heir and successor? What has become of the old
fawning, cringing smile? Why, if some of your future constituents could
see you now they might be justified in imagining that you had done
something wrong. Look at yourself."

Littimer indicated a long gilt mirror on the opposite wall. Henson
glanced at it involuntarily and dropped his eyes. Could that abject,
white-faced sneak be himself? Was that the man whose fine presence and
tender smile had charmed thousands? It seemed impossible.

"What have I done?" he asked.

"What have you not done?" Littimer thundered. "In the first place you did
your best to ruin Hatherly Bell's life. You robbed me of a picture to do
so, and your friend Merritt tried to rob me again. But I have both those
pictures now. You did that because you were afraid of Bell--afraid lest
he should see through your base motives. And you succeeded for a time,
for the coast was clear. And then you proceeded to rob me of my son by
one of the most contemptible tricks ever played by one man on another. It
was you who stole the money and the ring; you who brought about all that
sorrow and trouble by means of a forgery. But there are other people on
your track as well as myself. You were at your last gasp. You were coming
to see me to sell that ring for a large sum to take you out of the
country, and then you discovered that you hadn't really got the ring."

"What--what are you talking about?" Henson asked, feebly.

"Scoundrel!" Littimer cried. "Innocent and pure to the last. I know all
about Van Sneck and those forgeries of Prince Rupert's ring. And I know
how Van Sneck was nearly done to death in Mr. Steel's house; and I know
why--good heavens! It seems impossible that I could have been deceived
all these years by such a slimy, treacherous scoundrel. And I might have
gone on still but for a woman--"

"A lady