she will never marry Cedric; she is only fooling him a
bit."

"Don't be too sure of that," returned Mrs. Godfrey quietly; "you know I
am rather observant, and it struck me more than once that Mr. Jacobi
was playing a double game. He seemed at one time to take a great deal
of notice of Dick Wallace, and Cedric was rather shunted. But one
Sunday afternoon, when Mr. Jacobi and Sir Richard had been having a
long walk together, he suddenly changed, and Cedric was in favour
again."

"I am afraid I don't quite follow you," returned Malcolm, who certainly
did not understand what she meant to convey to him.

Mrs. Godfrey arched her eyebrows in surprise.

"My dear friend, you are not generally so dense. Don't you see the poor
man had never heard of the existence of Ralph Wallace, and so he
thought Master Dick was heir to the baronetcy--voila, tout."

"Oh, I see light now."

"Sir Richard, who is immensely proud of his eldest son, entertained his
companion with graphic descriptions of Ralph, Mrs. Ralph, and all the
Ralph olive branches; and of course Mr. Jacobi was immensely
interested. But he was rather cool to poor Dick that evening, and now
Cedric is in the ascendant again."

Malcolm reflected for a moment; then he said in rather a puzzled tone--

"Of course I see my bearings now, but all the same I am not out of the
fog. At the garden-party at the Wood House Jacobi was evidently fishing
for information; but he got precious little, I can tell you. But I
remember he seemed to know far more than I did about the
Templetons"--here Malcolm's voice unconsciously changed; "he even told
me about the tin mine that had been discovered on a Cornish farm that
belonged to them."

"I wonder where he got his information," observed Mrs. Godfrey
thoughtfully. "But he was quite correct. Mr. Templeton was not a rich
man by any means; he was just a country squire, with a moderate income,
which his first wife brought him, and of course her money was left to
her daughters. Cedric is absolutely dependent on his sisters."

"Oh, Jacobi quite understands that."

"So much the better. Well, then, three or four years ago this mine was
discovered, and that beggarly little farm has brought them quite a
fortune. Elizabeth told me that their income was nearly doubled."

"Oh, then Jacobi was right when he said they were rich." And then
Malcolm smiled bitterly as he remembered the two maiden ladies of
uncertain age.

"Of course he was right. Din