,
I had come to a point beyond which it seemed to me--I was a fool!--that
it was impossible to carry on. At that moment of folly and madness, Miss
Grant came to my aid, and saved me--you will think me extravagant if I
say--from death; but that's the real fact. I did not know her name until
you told me just now; I saw her for only a few minutes; those few
minutes, and her angelic goodness, changed the whole current of my life.
Isn't it only natural that I should want to see her, to tell her----"

He broke off abruptly and turned away to the window. As the piercing
eyes followed him, they grew troubled, the thin lips quivered and the
wasted hand that lay on the table closed and unclosed spasmodically.

"Will you tell me your name?" asked the low voice. "Mine is Clendon."

Derrick hesitated for a moment; then he remembered Donna Elvira's
injunction that he should bear his assumed name while in London.

"Sydney Green, sir."

"And you have come from abroad?" said Mr. Clendon. "I can see that by
your tanned face, by the character of your attire."

"From South America," said Derrick. "I am here on a mission, on business
for an employer. I am afraid I cannot tell you any more; I've only just
arrived and am staying at the Imperial in Western Square. If you think I
have told you sufficient, if you can trust me, I shall be very grateful
if you will give me Miss Grant's address. I wish I could convince you
that I am asking it from no unworthy motive."

"You have already done so," said Mr. Clendon, quietly. "I will give you
her address. Miss Grant is acting as librarian at Lord Sutcombe's house,
at Thexford Hall."

"Lord Sutcombe!" muttered Derrick, with an imperceptible start. The
colour again flooded his face; his gratitude, his joy were so great
that, for a moment, they rendered him speechless, and his voice was
broken when he could command it.

"I don't know how to thank you, sir," he said, and, impulsively, he held
out his hand.

Mr. Clendon took it after a moment's pause; and they stood, the old man
and the young man, looking into each other's eyes, and Derrick's--no
shame to him--were moist. For, think of it! he feared that he had lost
the girl on whom his heart had been set ever since the first moment he
had seen her; and now this old man had put him in the way of finding
her. They stood with clasped hands for longer than is usual; and Derrick
was too absorbed in his own emotion to notice the tremor in the thin
f