She confronted the man, and though he at first tried to assert that he was Clare's father, he soon found that this would be useless. This evening's adventure cleared up once and for all the mystery of Clare's introduction to Monks Lea. After the death of his wife, Edward Austin lived for some months in a quiet country place a few miles from London, where he had a cottage, and a respectable, middle-aged woman to keep house and take care of the child—she was the Mary of whom Clare talked when she came to Monks Lea. The quiet, however, did not long suit a man like Edward Austin, and a considerable legacy enabled him to resume his old life. He left Clare at the cottage, and went to Wiesbaden, where he met a brother and sister, named Henry and Laura Marsh. They became intimate, and eventually the lady became Edward Austin's second wife. The money which had come to him was sufficient to make the marriage a desirable one to Miss Marsh, who was dependent on her brother, especially as Edward Austin's tenure of life seemed likely to be short. He was in delicate health, and during his one year of married life, he never returned to England, but died suddenly whilst wintering in the Riviera. His widow's first object was, with her brother's help, to get rid of Clare and turn everything that was left into money. The two knew of the distant relationship to Colonel Austin, and the death of all the children at Monks Lea except Margery. Hence the letter, signed as if sent by Mrs. Allington, and Clare's unexpected arrival at Newthorpe. No wonder Mr. Marsh and his sister made no inquiry about the child, because, unknown to her, they saw her deposited on the platform, having travelled from town in another compartment of the same train. A singular chance, which need not be here related, had thrown Clare into company with her father's widow, during her absence from home. Mr. Marsh, being in pecuniary difficulties, conceived the idea of passing himself off as her father, with a view of extorting money from the girl first, and, if possible, from Mrs. Austin also. He induced his sister to show Clare certain papers and articles, which left no doubt on the girl's mind that her father had married Miss Marsh. She knew nothing of the circumstances attending his death, and could only remember that she had been told of it after he had been long absent from her and Mary. Henry Marsh's trumped-up story and pretended claim upon her were an afterthought, born of his impecunious condition. Mrs. Edward Austin first induced Clare to arrange for a clandestine correspondence by mysterious allusions to a coming revelation; and then brought her brother, whom the girl had not previously seen, to meet her in the shrubbery at Monk's Lea, where he pretended that she was his daughter, and told his tale. Thanks to Barbara's watchfulness and courage, the girl was rescued and the impostor exposed.