d's present address. When bankers, insurance
companies, and solicitors altogether have to conduct a piece of
business it is not difficult to ascertain such a simple matter.

He found out the name of the family solicitor, he went to the office,
sent in his card, and stated his object. As a very old friend of Lady
Harry's, he wanted to learn her address. He had just come up from
Scotland, where he had been ill, and had only just learned her terrible
bereavement.

The lawyer made no difficulty at all. There was no reason why he
should. Lady Harry had been in London; she was kept in town for nearly
two months by business connected with the unfortunate event; but she
had now gone--she was travelling Switzerland or elsewhere. As for her
address, a letter addressed to his care should be forwarded on hearing
from her ladyship.

"Her business, I take it, was the proving of the will and the
arrangement of the property."

"That was the business which kept her in town."

"Lady Harry," Mr. Mountjoy went on, "had a little property of her own
apart from what she may ultimately get from her father. About five
thousand pounds--not more."

"Indeed? She did not ask my assistance in respect of her own property."

"I suppose it is invested and in the hands of trustees. But, indeed, I
do not know. Lord Harry himself, I have heard, was generally in a
penniless condition. Were there any insurances?"

"Yes; happily there was insurance paid for him by the family. Otherwise
there would have been nothing for the widow."

"And this has been paid up, I suppose?"

"Yes; it has been paid into her private account."

"Thank you," said Mr. Mountjoy. "With your permission, I will address a
letter to Lady Harry here. Will you kindly order it to be forwarded at
the very earliest opportunity?"

"Iris," he thought, "will not come to London any more. She has been
persuaded by her husband to join in the plot. Good heavens! She has
become a swindler--a conspirator---a fraudulent woman! Iris!--it is
incredible--it is horrible! What shall we do?"

He first wrote a letter, to the care of the lawyers. He informed her
that he had made a discovery of the highest importance to herself--he
refrained from anything that might give rise to suspicion; he implored
her to give him an interview anywhere, in any part of the world--alone,
he told her that the consequences of refusal might be fatal--absolutely
fatal--to her future happiness: he conjured her to bel