letter from him telling me that he
was passing through Exeter."

She clasped and unclasped her hands nervously.

"Ah! That was where he went when he told me he had gone in search of
work!" she murmured--"Oh, David, David!"

"He informed me then," proceeded Sir Francis, "that he had made his
Will. The Will is here,"--and he took up a document lying on his
desk--"The manner of its execution coincides precisely with the letter
of instructions received, as I say, from Exeter--of course it will have
to be formally proved----"

She lifted her eyes wonderingly.

"What is it to me?" she said--"I have nothing to do with it. I have
brought you the papers--but I am sorry--oh, so sorry to hear that he was
not what he made himself out to be! I cannot think of him in the same
way----"

Sir Francis drew his chair closer to hers.

"Is it possible," he said--"Is it possible, my dear Miss Deane, that you
do not understand?"

She gazed at him candidly.

"Yes, of course I understand," she said--"I understand that he was a
rich man who played the part of a poor one--to see if any one would care
for him just for himself alone--and--I--I--did care--oh, I did
care!--and now I feel as if I couldn't care any more----"

Her voice broke sobbingly, and Sir Francis Vesey grew desperate.

"Don't cry!" he said--"Please don't cry! I should not be able to bear
it! You see I'm a business man"--here he took off his spectacles and
rubbed them vigorously--"and my position is that of the late Mr. David
Helmsley's solicitor. In that position I am bound to tell you the
straight truth--because I'm afraid you don't grasp it at all. It is a
very overwhelming thing for you,--but all the same, I am sure, quite
sure, that my old friend had reason to rely confidently upon your
strength of character--as well as upon your affection for him----"

She had checked her sobs and was looking at him steadily.

"And, therefore," he proceeded--"referring again to my own
position--that of the late David Helmsley's solicitor, it is my duty to
inform you that you, Mary Deane, are by his last Will and Testament, the
late David Helmsley's sole heiress."

She started up in terror.

"Oh no, no!--not me!" she cried.

"Everything which the late David Helmsley died possessed of, is left to
you absolutely and unconditionally," went on Sir Francis, speaking with
slow and deliberate emphasis--"And--even as he was one of the richest
men, so you are now one of the richest