stantiate them, and you are only
paining General Vane."

"You'd better ask Miss Enid, sir," said the woman half defiantly, half
desperately. "She knows. It troubled her a good bit as to whether she
ought to tell the General or not; but I believe she decided not. Mrs.
Vane thought that if she married you you would keep her quiet. My mother
confessed it all to Miss Enid on her death-bed. I expect the Rector
knows too by this time. He was always trying to get it out of me."

"Can this be true?" said Hubert, half to himself and half to the
General. But the old man, with his head bowed upon the table, did not
seem to hear.

"It's true as Gospel!" said Sabina. "And I don't much care who knows it
now. My prospects are all gone, as far as I can make out. This gentleman
here is not the murderer, it seems, and so I sha'n't get the three
hundred pounds for finding him; and Mrs. Vane's payments will be stopped
now, no doubt. She was giving me two hundred a year. I'll take less if
you like to give me something, sir, for going away and holding my
tongue. When Mrs. Vane knew about--about me, and mother was in trouble
over my misfortune, it was just at the time when your own little baby
was born, sir. It was a boy too, and it died when it was only twelve
hours old. And Mrs. Vane spoke to mother about my baby that was just the
same age; and mother and I both thought it would be a good thing if my
little boy could be made the heir of Beechfield Hall. For in that way
Mrs. Vane's position would be better, and she would be able to pay
mother and me a good round sum. And so we settled it. But now poor
little Dick's dead and gone, and all Mrs. Vane's schemes have come to
naught. Mother always said that there would be a bad ending to the
affair."

"You seem to have forgotten, young woman," said Andrew Westwood sternly,
"that there is a God above us all who takes care of the innocent and
punishes the guilty."

"I'd not forgotten it," said Sabina, confronting him with an unabashed
air; "but I hadn't believed it till now."

At that moment an inspector in plain clothes, who had been hastily
fetched from Scotland Yard, made his way into the room and inquired what
he was wanted for.

"We shall both have to go with you, I think," said Hubert firmly,
glancing at Westwood as he rose. "I presume that you cannot liberate Mr.
Westwood at once."

"What--Westwood the convict? I should think not!" said the inspector
briskly; and he made a sign to