oringly.

"I see none," was the rejoinder. "It is a very painful disclosure, but I
think it is inevitable. Do you not agree with me, Austin?"

"Do not ask my opinion," his brother coldly replied. "It is for you to
decide."

Robert Turold paused irresolutely. "What do you say, Ravenshaw?" he said,
glancing round at the silent figure of the doctor. "I asked you to be
present this afternoon to have the benefit of your advice. I owe much to
you, so I beg you to speak freely."

"Since you have asked my advice," said Dr. Ravenshaw gravely, "I say that
I entirely agree with Mrs. Pendleton. Your first duty is to Sisily. She
should out-weigh all other considerations. If you make her illegitimacy
public you may live to be sorry for having done so."

Mrs. Pendleton cast a moist, grateful glance at the speaker, but Austin
Turold turned on him a look of cold hostility.

Robert Turold sat brooding for a few moments in silence. He had asked
advice, but his own mind was made up. The humane views of his sister and
Dr. Ravenshaw were powerless to affect his decision. The monstrous growth
of his single purpose had long since strangled such transient plants as
human affection and feeling in his heart and mind.

"The facts must be made public," he said inexorably. "The honour of a
noble family is in my hands, and I must do my duty. It would be an insult
to my Sovereign and my peers, and a grievous wrong to our family, if I
concealed any portion of the truth. I shall make adequate provision for
Sisily. You will not refuse to take charge of her, Constance, because of
this disclosure?"

"You ought to know me better than that, Robert. She'll need somebody to
take care of her, poor child! But who is to tell her the truth? For I
suppose she must be told?"

"I want you to tell her," said Robert Turold. "Choose your time. There is
no immediate hurry, but she must be in no false hopes about the future.
She had better be told before the Investigations Committee meets."

"Bother the Investigations Committee!" exclaimed Mrs. Pendleton. "Really,
Robert--"

Mrs. Pendleton broke off abruptly, in something like dismay. She had a
fleeting impression of a pair of eyes encountering her own through a crack
in the doorway, and as swiftly withdrawn. She walked quickly to the door
and flung it open. There was nobody outside, and the passage was empty.

"We have been talking family secrets with the door open," she said,
returning to her seat. "I thou