t on, in a low voice; "in my folly I had
been guilty of an indiscretion which was sinless as it was foolish. I
had married a cold, rigid and remorseless man when I was little more
than a child, and I had run away from him with one who was never more to
me than a brother. A chivalrous, kindly soul who paid for his chivalry
dearly. All the evidence looked black against me, and my husband had no
difficulty in securing a divorce. It passed into the oblivion of
forgotten things, yet in those tender days when my love for George
Doughton grew I lived in terror least a breath of the old scandal should
be revived. I had reason for that terror, as I will tell you. I was, as
I say, engaged to be married. Two days before the wedding George
Doughton left me without a word of explanation. The first news that I
received was that he had sailed for Africa; thereafter I never heard
from him." She dropped her voice until she was hardly audible.

T. B. preserved a sympathetic silence. It was impossible to doubt the
truth of all she was saying, or to question her anguish. Presently she
spoke again.

"Mr. Farrington was most kind, and it was he who introduced me to Dr.
Fall."

"Why?" asked T. B. quickly.

She shook her head.

"I never understood until quite lately," she said. "At the time I
accepted as a fact that Dr. Fall had large interests in West Africa, and
would enable me to get into communication with George Doughton. I
clutched at straws, so to speak; I became a constant visitor to the
Secret House, the only outside visitor that extraordinary domain has
ever had within memory. I found that my visits were not without result.
I was enabled to trace the movements of my lover; I was enabled, too, to
send letters to him in the certainty that they would reach him. I have
reason now to know that Mr. Farrington had another object in introducing
me; he wanted me kept under the closest observation lest I should get
into independent communication with George Doughton. That is all the
story so far as my acquaintance with the Secret House is concerned. I
have only seen Mr. Moole on one occasion."

"And Farrington?" asked T. B.

She shook her head.

"I have never seen Mr. Farrington in the house," she replied.

"Or Montague Fallock?" he suggested.

She raised her eyebrows.

"I have never seen Montague Fallock," she said slowly, "though I have
heard from him. He, too, knew of the scandal; he it was who blackmailed
me in the days of m