I resolved to save
you!"

"Which you did," she said in a strained, mechanical tone. "We both have
you to thank for our escape. Weirmarsh, having first implicated Paul,
then made allegations against us, in order to send us to prison, because
he feared lest my stepfather might, in a fit of remorse, act indiscreetly
and make a confession."

"The past will all be forgiven now that Sir Hugh has been able to expose
and unmask Weirmarsh and his band," Walter assured her. "A great
sensation may possibly result, but it will, in any case, show that even
though an Englishman may be bought, he can still remain honest. And," he
added, "it will also show them that there is at least one brave woman in
England who sacrificed her love--for I know well, Enid, that you fully
reciprocate the great affection I feel towards you--in order to bear her
noble part in combating a wily and unscrupulous gang."

"It was surely my duty," replied the girl simply, her eyes downcast in
modesty. "Yet association with that dastardly blackguard, Dr. Weirmarsh,
was horrible! How I refrained from turning upon him through all those
months I cannot really tell. I detested him from the first moment Sir
Hugh invited him to our table; and though I went to assist him under
guise of consultations, I acted with one object all along," she
declared, her eyes raised to his and flashing, "to expose him in his true
guise--that of Josef Blot, the head of the most dangerous association of
forgers, of international thieves and blackmailers known to the police
for the past half a century."

"Which you have surely done! You have revealed the whole plot, and
confounded those who were so cleverly conspiring to effect a sudden and
most gigantic coup. But----" and he paused, still looking into her eyes
through his pince-nez, and sighed.

"But what?" she asked, in some surprise at his sudden change of manner.

"There is one matter, Enid, which"--and he paused--"well, which is still
a mystery to me, and I--I want you to explain it," he said in slow
deliberation.

"What is that?" she asked, looking at him quickly.

"The mystery which you have always refused to assist me in
unravelling--the mystery of the death of Harry Bellairs," was his quiet
reply. "You held him in high esteem; you loved him," he added in a voice
scarce above a whisper.

She drew back, her countenance suddenly blanched as she put her hand
quickly to her brow and reeled slightly as though she had been de