o, you're wrong, sir, he was no scoundrel," she said calmly. "He'd met
with an accident and been taken to an hospital. He was there for weeks
and weeks, not able to give an account of himself, or, as far as I can
make out, even to give his name. He came out last week, and made his
way, by sort of instinct, to your house, where he knew I was living. I
came out on the steps and saw him there--my husband that I'd given up
for lost. I ran up to him--you'd have done the same in my place--and
went with him without thinking of anybody else."

"I see. But why did you not leave a word of explanation behind."

"I daren't quit hold of him for a moment, sir. He was so dazed and
stupid, he didn't even know me at the first. That was why I say it was
instinct, not knowledge, that guided him to the place. If I had left him
to speak to any one in the house, he might have gone off, and I never
seen him again. That was why I felt obliged to go sir, and am very sorry
for the inconvenience I know I must have caused."

Caspar nodded gravely. "I see," he said. "Of course it _was_
inconvenient, and we were anxious--there's no denying that. But I can
see the matter from your point of view. Would you like to see Miss
Lesley and explain it to her?"

"I'd rather leave it in your hands, sir," said Mary Trent. "Because
there's one thing more I've got to mention before I go. And Miss Lesley
may not thank me for mentioning it, although I do it to save her--poor
lamb--and to save you too, sir, from a great trouble and sorrow and
disgrace that hangs over you all just now."

Caspar flushed. "Disgrace?" he said, almost angrily.

And Mrs. Trent looked at him full in the face and nodded gravely, as she
answered--

"Yes, sir, disgrace."

CHAPTER XXXI.

"A FAIRLY GOOD REASON."

Caspar Brooke's attitude stiffened. His features and limbs became
suddenly rigid.

"I must confess, Mrs. Trent," he said, "that I am unable to conceive the
possibility of _disgrace_ hanging over me or mine."

"That is because you are a man, and therefore blind to what goes on
around you," said Mary Trent, with sudden bitterness; "and I am a woman,
and can use my eyes and ears. There, I'd better tell you my tale at
once, and you can make what you like of it. Miss Lesley----"

"If you have anything to say about Miss Lesley, it had better be said in
her hearing," returned Caspar, in hot displeasure. He rose and laid his
hand upon the bell. "I want no tales about he