nd recognised the mysterious midnight visitor."

"He came back in a few minutes, but so transformed in outward
appearance that Ducie scarcely knew him."

"Behold!"

"Sister Agnes knelt for a few moments and bent her head in silent
prayer."

"He put his hand to his side, and motioned Mirpah to open the letter."

* * * * *

Illustrations to "The Bretons at Home."

[Illustration: HE PUT HIS HAND TO HIS SIDE, AND MOTIONED MIRPAH TO
OPEN THE LETTER.]

THE ARGOSY.

_JUNE, 1891._

THE FATE OF THE HARA DIAMOND.

CHAPTER XXII.

MR. MADGIN AT THE HELM.

Mr. Madgin's house stood somewhat back from the main street of Eastbury.
It was an old-fashioned house, of modest exterior, and had an air of
being elbowed into the background by the smarter and more modern
domiciles on each side of it. Its steep, overhanging roof and porched
doorway gave it a sleepy, reposeful look, as though it were watching the
on-goings of the little town through half-closed lids, and taking small
cognizance thereof.

Entering from the street through a little wooden gateway of a bright
green colour, a narrow pathway, paved with round pebbles that were very
trying to people with tender feet, conducted you to the front door, on
which shone a brass plate of surpassing brightness, whereon was
inscribed:--

___________________________________
| |
| MR. SOLOMON MADGIN. |
| _General Agent_, |
| _Valuer, &c._ |
|_________________________________|

The house was a double-fronted one. On one side of the passage as you
went in was the office; on the other side was the family sitting-room.
Not that Mr. Madgin's family was a large one. It consisted merely of
himself, his daughter Mirpah, and one strong servant-girl with an
unlimited capacity for hard work. Mirpah Madgin deserves some notice at
our hands.

She was a tall, superb-looking young woman of two-and-twenty, and bore
not the slightest resemblance in person, whatever she might do in mind
or disposition, to that sly old fox her father. Mirpah's mother had been
of Jewish extraction, and in Mirpah's face you read the unmistakable
signs of that grand style of beauty which is everywhere associated with
the downtrodden race. She moved about the little house in her
inexpensive prints and mus