"Kelvin himself could not have stated the case more clearly." "You will let me hear from you, Mr. Pomeroy, by to-morrow morning at the latest?" "There will be no need for you to wait till to-morrow morning, Miss Deane." "Does that mean that you have made up your mind already?" "It does." "And the answer is----?" "The answer is, that if Matthew Kelvin can obtain this situation for me, I will gladly accept it. To tell the truth, I am somewhat tired of the nomadic sort of life that I have been leading since I was quite a lad. I think I am sufficiently tamed to settle quietly down to work--provided there is not too much of it, and I am allowed to have pretty much my own way." "Any person who chooses to assert himself can have his own way with Sir Thomas Dudgeon. I am glad that you have decided to accept the position. I feel quite sure that you will have no cause to regret doing so." "It is you who have persuaded me. I feel sure that Kelvin would not have succeeded as you have." "Don't forget what I have told you about Miss Lloyd." "I am not at all likely to do so. I am all anxiety to see her." "When do you go back to town?" "This afternoon, by the five o'clock express. "You will leave me an address before you go, by means of which my cousin can communicate with you. You may expect to hear from me in a week at the latest." Gerald pencilled down the address of a London friend, to which any letters for him might be sent. A few minutes later he took his leave. This conversation it was that Mr. Piper thought it worth his while to take down in shorthand. "My cousin Matthew's revenge shall be worthy of the name," said Olive to herself; as soon as she was alone. "Let this Eleanor Lloyd but engage herself to Pomeroy--let her marry him if she will--and on the day that Matthew tells her the secret of her birth, he can tell her also that the man to whom she has given her heart is but a sorry impostor, whose sole object in marrying her was to obtain possession of that money which is hers no longer. When that day comes, may I be there to see! Her proud beauty shall be humiliated to the dust." When Gerald got back to London, he told Miss Bellamy everything that had happened. She quite concurred with him that it looked very much as if some strange conspiracy were afoot; but what the nature and objects of it might be they were altogether at a loss to imagine. In any case, it could do no harm for Gerald to retain his incognito for a little while longer. A few days later, Gerald received by post a bank-note for fifty pounds, with Miss Deane's compliments. Mr. Kelvin had not yet got back home, she wrote, but would doubtless communicate with Mr. Pomeroy immediately after his return. Mr. Pomeroy pinned one note to the other, and having sealed them up in an envelope, he put them carefully away in his writing-desk.