purpose looks beside the mark,
Might as well hoodwinked shoot as in the dark,

and Ida was certain that all the people at Ratzes had been bribed, and
that no one would dare to speak out while Mrs. Bury kept guard there.
Indeed, for that lady to guess at such suspicions and inquiries would
have been so dreadful that Ratzes was out of the question, much to the
relief of the elders, dragged along by the masterful maiden against their
better judgment, though indeed Miss Gattoni gave as much sympathy in her
_tete-a-tetes_ with Ida as she did to her mother in their consultations.

They were made to interview the doctor, but he knew as little about the
matter as the disappointed _balia_, and professed to know much less. In
point of fact, though he had been called in after the accident, Mrs. Bury
had not thought much of his skill, and had not promoted after-visits.
There had not been time to summon him when the birth took place, and Mrs.
Bury thought her experience more useful afterwards than his treatment was
likely to be. So he was a slighted and offended man, whose testimony,
given in good German, only declared the secretiveness, self-sufficiency,
and hard-neckedness of Englander!

And Ida's state of mind much resembled that of the public when resolved
to believe in the warming-pan.

CHAPTER XXVII
THE YOUNG PRETENDER

The denunciation of the Young Pretender was not an easy matter even in
Ida's eyes. It was one thing to have a pet grievance and see herself as
a heroine, righting her dear injured brother's wrongs, and another to
reproach two of the quietest most matter-of-fact people in the world with
the atrocious frauds of which only a wicked baronet was capable.

She was not sorry that the return to England was deferred by the tenants
of the house at Westhaven wanting to stay on; and when at length a
Christmas visit was paid at Northmoor, Mite was an animated little
personage of three and a quarter, and, except that he could not
accomplish a _k_, perfect in speaking plainly and indeed with that pretty
precision of utterance that children sometimes acquire when baby language
has not been foolishly fastened. Indeed, his pet name of Mite was only
for strictly private use. Except to his nearest relatives, he was always
Michael.

Mrs. Morton was delighted with him, and would have liked to make up for
her knowledge of Ida's suspicions by extra petting, and by discovering
resemblances to all the family por