ry direction except the
right one. They both thanked me, and looked upon me as their best friend;
and so I was, for I kept up hope; and what is life without it? At last the
search approached the neighborhood where the children really were, and
they were sent to the country. A man by the name of Craig took them. The
only person who was in the secret was Enoch Grosket; but he knew nothing
respecting the history of the children, nor where they went.'

'Where was it?' inquired Holmes, anxiously, 'and to whom did you entrust
them?'

'I have prepared it all,' said Rust; he drew a letter from his pocket and
handed it to him. 'You'll find it there, and the names of the persons;
they know nothing of the children; but they can identify them as those
left with them four years ago; and they still have the clothes which they
wore at the time; but the girl's resemblance to her mother will save all
that trouble.'

He paused, with his dark eyes fastened on the floor, and his lips working
with intense emotion.

'And is it possible that the love of gold can lead one to crimes like
these!' said Holmes, in a subdued tone.

'Love of gold!' exclaimed Rust, fiercely; 'what cared I for gold? Ho! ho!
Michael Rust values gold but as dross; but it is the world; the cringing,
obsequious, miser-hearted world, that kisses the very feet of wealth,
which set Michael Rust on; it was this that lashed him forward; but not
for himself. I married a woman whom I loved,' said he, in a quick, stern
tone; 'she abandoned me and became an outcast, and paid the penalty by an
outcast's fate: she died in the streets. The love which I bore her I
transferred to my child. I was poor, and I resolved that she should be
rich. Can you understand my motive now? I loved my own flesh and blood
better than my brother's. I have now relinquished my plans, and have told
you why.'

A pause of some moments ensued, and Rust said: 'Is there any thing more
that you want? If so, tell me at once, for after to-day we shall never
meet again.'

Holmes ran his eye over the papers, and selecting two letters, handed them
to Rust, and said:

'How do you account for the difference of that hand-writing, if Michael
Rust and Henry Colton are one?'

'Michael Rust wrote one hand, Henry Colton another,' said Rust; 'but _I_
wrote both.' He seized a pen, wrote a few words, signed the names Michael
Rust and Henry Colton, and flung it on the table. 'The game had been well
studied before it w