herself--even a past
one. This point did not escape him.

"It is with humiliation that I receive your reminder that that man
was, in flesh and blood at least, akin to me," was the answer; "and
for that reason I have felt it to be my duty to make whatever poor
reparation may be in my power for the evil that he has done."

He spoke with extreme seriousness, and there was a tone in his last
words which conveyed to Bettina the suspicion that they referred to
something more than any act of Lord Hurdly's which had heretofore
been mentioned between them.

She waited, therefore, in some agitation to hear what his next words
should be.

"I shall have to ask your forgiveness," he said, "for touching upon
a matter which might well seem to be an impertinence on my part. The
necessity is forced upon me, however, and I shall be as brief as
possible, if you will be good enough to listen."

Bettina answered merely by a bend of the head.

"As long as I can remember," he began, "I have had a certain
instinctive distrust of the late Lord Hurdly. It grew with my
growth; but I never thought it proper, under the then existing
circumstances, to give expression to it. As time went on, observation
confirmed instinct, and it became evident to me that he was a man of
powerful will, and was more or less unscrupulous in the attainment of
its ends. After his death, in going into the affairs of the estate,
and various other matters which came under my observation, I found
that the truths laid bare before me revealed him as a far worse man
even than I had imagined. It was a revolting manifestation in every
sense; but even when those matters had been closed up--when I
supposed that I was done with the man and aware of the worst--a
revelation was made to me which, though of a piece with the rest,
and no worse in its essence and kind, came home to me with a
thousandfold intensity, from the fact that it nearly concerned both
myself and you."

Bettina's heart beat wildly. She dared not look at him, and with an
instinct to protect herself from betrayal at every cost, she said, in
a voice which was so cool and calm that the sound of it surprised her
as it fell upon her ear:

"Go on. Explain yourself."

She had taken up a paper from the table and was using it as if to
screen her face from the fire, but she managed to get somewhat in the
shadow of it, so that her companion had only a partial view of her
features and expression. In this position, w