sband's act_
7. _Fell in with Lady Mary Chetwynd_
8. _Expelled the army for gaming_
9. _N Pomeroy of Pomeroy Berks_
10. _O I am a miserable villain_

Gualtier looked over it and then handed it back.

"Yes," said he, "I remember, of course, for I happen to know every
word of it by heart."

"That is very well," said Hilda, approvingly. "And now I want to
remind you of the difficulties in my interpretation before going on
any further.

"You remember that these were, first, the con fusion in the way of
writing the name, for here there is 'O Pomeroy,' 'O N Pomeroy,' and
'N Pomeroy,' in so short a document.

"Next, there is the mixture of persons, the writer sometimes speaking
in the first person and sometimes in the third, as, for instance,
when he says, '_O N Pomeroy_ eloped with poor Lady Chetwynde;' and
then he says, 'She listened to _me_ and ran off with me.'

"And then there are the incomplete sentences, such as, 'Fell in with
Lady Mary Chetwynd'--'Expelled the army for gaming.'

"Lastly, there are two ways in which the lady's name is spelled,
'Chetwynde,' and 'Chetwynd.'

"You remember we decided that these might be accounted for in one of
two ways. Either, first, the writer, in copying it out, grew confused
in forming his cipher characters; or, secondly, he framed the whole
paper with a deliberate purpose to baffle and perplex."

"I remember all this," said Gualtier, quietly. "I have not forgotten
it."

"The General's death changed the aspect of affairs so completely,"
said Hilda, "and made this so apparently useless, that I thought you
might have forgotten at least these minute particulars. It is
necessary for you to have these things fresh in your mind, so as to
regard the whole subject thoroughly."

"But what good will any discovery be now?" asked Gualtier, with
unfeigned surprise. "The General is dead, and you can do nothing."

"The General is dead," said Hilda; "but the General's daughter
lives."

Nothing could exceed the bitterness of the tone in which she uttered
these words.

"His daughter! Of what possible concern can all this be to her?"
asked Gualtier, who wished to get at the bottom of Hilda's purpose.

"I should never have tried to strike at the General," said Hilda, "if
he had not had a daughter. It was not him that I wished to harm. It
was _her_."

"And now," said Gualtier, after a silence, "she is out of your reach.
She is Mrs. Molyneux. She will be the Countess of Chetwynde.