rther trial, he
will be of no use to me. Never mind if my head swims; I'm used to that.
Now listen!"

Strange as the preface was, the explanation that followed was stranger
yet. I offer a shortened and simplified version, giving accurately the
substance of what I heard.

The Minister entered without reserve on the mysterious subject of the
ages. Eunice, he informed me, was nearly two years older than Helena. If
she outwardly showed her superiority of age, any person acquainted with
the circumstances under which the adopted infant had been received into
Mr. Gracedieu's childless household, need only compare the so-called
sisters in after-life, and would thereupon identify the eldest-looking
young lady of the two as the offspring of the woman who had been hanged
for murder. With such a misfortune as this presenting itself as a
possible prospect, the Minister was bound to prevent the girls from
ignorantly betraying each other by allusions to their ages and their
birthdays. After much thought, he had devised a desperate means of
meeting the difficulty--already made known, as I am told, for the
information of strangers who may read the pages that have gone before
mine. My friend's plan of proceeding had, by the nature of it, exposed
him to injurious comment, to embarrassing questions, and to doubts and
misconceptions, all patiently endured in consideration of the security
that had been attained. Proud of his explanation, Mr. Gracedieu's vanity
called upon me to acknowledge that my curiosity had been satisfied, and
my doubts completely set at rest.

No: my obstinate common sense was not reduced to submission, even yet.
Looking back over a lapse of seventeen years, I asked what had happened,
in that long interval, to justify the anxieties which still appeared to
trouble my friend.

This time, my harmless curiosity could be gratified by a reply expressed
in three words--nothing had happened.

Then what, in Heaven's name, was the Minister afraid of?

His voice dropped to a whisper. He said: "I am afraid of the women."

Who were the women?

Two of them actually proved to be the servants employed in Mr.
Gracedieu's house, at the bygone time when he had brought the child home
with him from the prison! To point out the absurdity of the reasons
that he gave for fearing what female curiosity might yet attempt, if
circumstances happened to encourage it, would have been a mere waste of
words. Dismissing the subject, I next asc