s the game at
which he was flying,--Mr. Benjamin, and, if possible, Lord George;
and he conceived that his net might be big enough to hold Smiler as
well as the other two greater fishes, if he could induce Patience
Crabstick and Billy Cann to co-operate with him cordially in his
fishing.

But his mind was still disturbed on one point. Let him press his
beloved Patience as closely as he might with questions, there was one
point on which he could not get from her what he believed to be the
truth. She persisted that Lord George de Bruce Carruthers had had no
hand in either robbery, and Gager had so firmly committed himself to
a belief on this matter, that he could not throw the idea away from
him, even on the testimony of Patience Crabstick.

On that evening he returned triumphant to Scotland Yard with Patience
Crabstick under his wing; and that lady was housed there with every
comfort she could desire, except that of personal liberty.

CHAPTER LIX

Mr. Gowran Up in London

In the meantime Mrs. Hittaway was diligently spreading a report that
Lizzie Eustace either was engaged to marry her cousin Frank,--or
ought to be so engaged. This she did, no doubt, with the sole object
of saving her brother; but she did it with a zeal that dealt as
freely with Frank's name as with Lizzie's. They, with all their
friends, were her enemies, and she was quite sure that they were,
altogether, a wicked, degraded set of people. Of Lord George and
Mrs. Carbuncle, of Miss Roanoke and Sir Griffin Tewett, she believed
all manner of evil. She had theories of her own about the jewels,
stories,--probably of her own manufacture in part, although no doubt
she believed them to be true,--as to the manner of living at Portray,
little histories of Lizzie's debts, and the great fact of the scene
which Mr. Gowran had seen with his own eyes. Lizzie Eustace was an
abomination to her, and this abominable woman her brother was again
in danger of marrying! She was very loud in her denunciations, and
took care that they should reach even Lady Linlithgow, so that
poor Lucy Morris might know of what sort was the lover in whom she
trusted. Andy Gowran had been sent for to town, and was on his
journey while Mr. Gager was engaged at Ramsgate. It was at present
the great object of Mrs. Hittaway's life to induce her brother to see
Mr. Gowran before he kept his appointment with Lady Eustace.

Poor Lucy received the wound which was intended for her. The en