another. He instantly left Mountjoy. Again
the carriage rattled back along the street; but it was stopped before
it reached Mr. Vimpany's door.

Lord Harry knew the people whom he had to deal with, and took measures
to approach the house silently, on foot. The coachman received orders
to look out for a signal, which should tell him when he was wanted
again.

Mr. Vimpany's ears, vigilantly on the watch for suspicious events,
detected no sound of carriage wheels and no noisy use of the knocker.
Still on his guard, however, a ring at the house-bell disturbed him in
his consulting-room. Peeping into the hall, he saw Iris opening the
door, and stole back to his room. "The devil take her!" he said,
alluding to Miss Henley, and thinking of the enviable proprietor of the
diamond pin.

At the unexpected appearance of Iris, Lord Harry forgot every
consideration which ought to have been present to his mind, at that
critical moment.

He advanced to her with both hands held out in cordial greeting. She
signed to him contemptuously to stand back--and spoke in tones
cautiously lowered, after a glance at the door of the consulting-room.

"My only reason for consenting to see you," she said, "is to protect
myself from further deception. Your disgraceful conduct is known to me.
Go now," she continued, pointing to the stairs, "and consult with your
spy, as soon as you like." The Irish lord listened--guiltily conscious
of having deserved what she had said to him--without attempting to
utter a word in excuse.

Still posted at the head of the stairs, the doctor's wife heard Iris
speaking; but the tone was not loud enough to make the words
intelligible at that distance; neither was any other voice audible in
reply. Vaguely suspicions of some act of domestic treachery, Mrs.
Vimpany began to descend the stairs. At the turning which gave her a
view of the hall, she stopped; thunderstruck by the discovery of Lord
Harry and Miss Henley, together.

The presence of a third person seemed, in some degree, to relieve Lord
Harry. He ran upstairs to salute Mrs. Vimpany, and was met again by a
cold reception and a hostile look.

Strongly and strangely contrasted, the two confronted each other on the
stairs. The faded woman, wan and ghastly under cruel stress of mental
suffering, stood face to face with a fine, tall, lithe man, in the
prime of his health and strength. Here were the bright blue eyes, the
winning smile, and the natural grace of m