d the report of the inquest in his St. James's Street rooms.
"Strange. I wonder who cut the Gordian knot of the rope which bound
Agnes to Pine?"

He could find no reply to this question, nor could any one else.

CHAPTER X.

A DIFFICULT POSITION.

Lord Garvington was not a creditable member of the aristocracy, since
his vices greatly exceeded his virtues. With a weak nature, and the
tastes of a sybarite, he required a great deal of money to render him
happy. Like the immortal Becky Sharp, he could have been fairly honest
if possessed of a large income; but not having it he stopped short of
nothing save actual criminality in order to indulge his luxurious
tastes to the full. Candidly speaking, he had already overstepped the
mark when he altered the figures of a check his brother-in-law had given
him, and, had not Pine been so generous, he would have undoubtedly
occupied an extremely unpleasant position. However, thanks to Agnes, the
affair had been hushed up, and with characteristic promptitude,
Garvington had conveniently forgotten how nearly he had escaped the iron
grip of Justice. In fact, so entirely did it slip his memory that--on
the plea of Pine's newly discovered origin--he did not desire the body
to be placed in the family vault. But the widow wished to pay this honor
to her husband's remains, and finally got her own way in the matter, for
the simple reason that now she was the owner of Pine's millions
Garvington did not wish to offend her. But, as such a mean creature
would, he made capital out of the concession.

"Since I do this for you, Agnes," he said bluntly, when the question was
being decided, "you must do something for me."

"What do you wish me to do?"

"Ah--hum--hey--ho!" gurgled Garvington, thinking cunningly that it was
too early yet to exploit her. "We can talk about it when the will has
been read, and we know exactly how we stand. Besides your grief is
sacred to me, my dear. Shut yourself up and cry."

Agnes had a sense of humor, and the blatant hypocrisy of the speech made
her laugh outright in spite of the genuine regret she felt for her
husband's tragic death. Garvington was quite shocked. "Do you forget
that the body is yet in the house?" he asked with heavy solemnity.

"I don't forget anything," retorted Agnes, becoming scornfully serious.
"Not even that you count on me to settle your wretched financial
difficulties out of poor Hubert's money."

"Of course you will, my dear