e passage on board the first ship bound
for Australia, to remain there the rest of his natural life. He chose
the latter, and I have appointed my agent, 'Smith, the book peddler,' as
his guardian, to see that he carries out his contract to the letter.

"And now there is one thing more:

"After Burrill's death, Jasper and Frank Lamotte made a search for
certain papers supposed to have been upon the person of the dead man;
they never found them, for the reason that I, as Brooks, had relieved
Burrill of the care of these same papers, weeks before, substituting for
them blanks, which no doubt, Burrill had hidden somewhere, in one of his
fits of drunken caution.

"These papers define distinctly such portions of the Lamotte property as
in reality belonged to Burrill; and if I am not mistaken in Mrs. Lamotte
and her daughter, they will wish no share in it. I will put these papers
into your hands, Mr. O'Meara, to be held for future action."

CHAPTER XLVII.

AFTER THE DRAMA ENDED.

"Clifford," says the heiress of Wardour, standing beside her lover, one
winter day, not long after the extinction of the Diamond Coterie,
"Clifford I have been to Mapleton to-day, for the first time since--"

She pauses abruptly, and her lover draws her closer to his side, with
all his olden assurance shining in the eyes he bends down upon her.

"Since the drama ended," he finishes. "You have been to Mapleton,
beloved! tell me about it."

"There's something I wish to tell you, Clifford; something that in full,
Mr. Bathurst generously kept out of his story when he told us the rest;
something that is known as it is only to Mrs. Lamotte, Sybil, Evan, Mr.
Belknap, Mr. Bathurst, and myself, but which I think I had better tell
you now."

"I am listening Conny."

"Well, you see when the robbers made off with my paste diamonds--think
of its being the Lamottes, Clifford--when they robbed me of nothing, I
felt quite relieved, for those diamonds _had_ been a burden. I made up
my mind to make the most of the business, and let everybody think me a
loser, hoping thus to possess myself and my diamonds in peace and
safety. But your Mr. Bathurst--"

"My Mr. Bathurst!"

"Well, _my_ Mr. Bathurst, then; only you very well know that he has a
wife. When _my_ Mr. Bathurst had talked to me a second time--I believe
that man can see straight through people--he had my secret at his
tongue's end; and he warned me to be very cautious and not to tell _any