, and when no gentleman were at hand to protect her. "Only let me
meet her face to face" (she had said), "and I will make her confess
herself the impostor that she is!" As matters now stood, it was
impossible to estimate too seriously the mischief which might ensue from
such a meeting as this. Everything now depended on Julian's skillful
management of an exasperated woman; and nobody, at that moment, knew
where the woman was.

In this position of affairs, as Julian understood it, there seemed to be
no other alternative than to make his inquiries instantly at the lodge
and then to direct the search in person.

He looked toward Mercy's chair as he arrived at this resolution. It was
at a cruel sacrifice of his own anxieties and his own wishes that he
deferred continuing the conversation with her from the critical point at
which Lady Janet's appearance had interrupted it.

Mercy had risen while he had been questioning the servant. The attention
which she had failed to accord to what had passed between his aunt and
himself she had given to the imperfect statement which he had extracted
from the man. Her face plainly showed that she had listened as eagerly
as Lady Janet had listened; with this remarkable difference between
there, that Lady Janet looked frightened, and that Lady Janet's
companion showed no signs of alarm. She appeared to be interested;
perhaps anxious--nothing more.

Julian spoke a parting word to his aunt.

"Pray compose yourself," he said "I have little doubt, when I can learn
the particulars, that we shall easily find this person in the grounds.
There is no reason to be uneasy. I am going to superintend the search
myself. I will return to you as soon as possible."

Lady Janet listened absently. There was a certain expression in her eyes
which suggested to Julian that her mind was busy with some project
of its own. He stopped as he passed Mercy, on his way out by the
billiard-room door. It cost him a hard effort to control the contending
emotions which the mere act of looking at her now awakened in him. His
heart beat fast, his voice sank low, as he spoke to her.

"You shall see me again," he said. "I never was more in earnest in
promising you my truest help and sympathy than I am now."

She understood him. Her bosom heaved painfully; her eyes fell to the
ground--she made no reply. The tears rose in Julian's eyes as he looked
at her. He hurriedly left the room.

When he turned to close the billiard