d the
sight of Cynthia, who meanwhile stood upon the hearthrug, head bent and
hands folded, waiting gravely and patiently for what she felt to be the
decision on her fate.

Presently Mrs. Vane moved a little, fixed her cold eyes on the
motionless figure before her, and spoke in tones so low that they did
not reach the General's ears.

"What have you done with your father?" she asked.

Cynthia raised her eyes to Mrs. Vane's face for a moment with a flash of
scorn in their lustrous depths. She made no other answer.

"You need not think," said Florence deliberately, "that I do not know
where he has been until to-day. I know all about him."

"Yes; you set your spies on him," said Cynthia, in equally low but
bitter tones. "I was aware of that."

"I know of his movements up to eleven o'clock this morning, and so do
the police," said Mrs. Vane. "He came to you this morning--perhaps by
appointment, perhaps not--how do I know?--and you drove away with him to
St. Pancras Station. There you took his ticket to Liverpool--there you
said good-bye. Why did you not wait to see him off? The answer is easy
to read--because he never went to Liverpool at all. Did you think we
were children like yourself that you could throw dust in our eyes as
easily as that?"

Cynthia's dilated eyes asked a question that her lips would not utter.
Flossy smiled.

"You want to know if he has been taken?" she said. "Not yet; but he soon
will be. You should not have been seen with him if you wanted him to
escape. I suppose you were not aware that the relationship was known?"

No, this certainly Cynthia had not known.

"You have been the means of identifying him to the police," Mrs. Vane
went on, with the cruel smile still playing about her thin lips;
"otherwise we should hardly have been sure that he had changed his
disguise. I almost wonder that you never thought of that."

Then Cynthia made a desperate attempt to stem the tide.

"You are mistaken," she said--Mrs. Vane laughed softly.

"You had better not try to tell lies about it--it is not your forte.
Brazen it out, as you have done hitherto, and you may succeed. A
detective has been to Madame della Scala's house already, and he will
probably find you out--if you stay here--before long. I am afraid that
you are not a very good hand at keeping a secret; but I have put you on
your guard, and you should thank me."

"I do not thank you for torturing me," said Cynthia, with a hard dry sob
that