appeal to her compassion,
and her impulses carried her away as usual. My fault! All my fault!"

Grace changed her tone once more. She was quick enough to discern that
Lady Janet was a match for her with her own weapons.

"We have had enough of this," she said. "It is time to be serious. Your
adopted daughter (as you call her) is Mercy Merrick, and you know it."

Lady Janet returned to her papers.

"I am Grace Roseberry, whose name she has stolen, and you know _that_."

Lady Janet went on with her papers.

Grace got up from her chair.

"I accept your silence, Lady Janet," she said, "as an acknowledgment
of your deliberate resolution to suppress the truth. You are evidently
determined to receive the adventuress as the true woman; and you don't
scruple to face the consequences of that proceeding, by pretending to my
face to believe that I am mad. I will not allow myself to be impudently
cheated out of my rights in this way. You will hear from me again madam,
when the Canadian mail arrives in England."

She walked toward the door. This time Lady Janet answered, as readily
and as explicitly as it was possible to desire.

"I shall refuse to receive your letters," she said.

Grace returned a few steps, threateningly.

"My letters shall be followed by my witnesses," she proceeded.

"I shall refuse to receive your witnesses."

"Refuse at your peril. I will appeal to the law."

Lady Janet smiled.

"I don't pretend to much knowledge of the subject," she said; "but I
should be surprised indeed if I discovered that you had any claim on me
which the law could enforce. However, let us suppose that you _can_ set
the law in action. You know as well as I do that the only motive power
which can do that is--money. I am rich; fees, costs, and all the rest of
it are matters of no sort of consequence to me. May I ask if you are in
the same position?"

The question silenced Grace. So far as money was concerned, she was
literally at the end of her resources. Her only friends were friends in
Canada. After what she had said to him in the boudoir, it would be quite
useless to appeal to the sympathies of Julian Gray. In the pecuniary
sense, and in one word, she was absolutely incapable of gratifying
her own vindictive longings. And there sat the mistress of Mablethorpe
House, perfectly well aware of it.

Lady Janet pointed to the empty chair.

"Suppose you sit down again?" she suggested. "The course of our
interview seems to h