She had not been to Twickenham, and had sent no telegram to Fan. Then she read the message and turned the paper over, and read it again and again, glancing at intervals at the girl. Then she went up to her and put her hand on her shoulder. Fan started and shook the hand off, and raised her eyes wet with tears and red with weeping, but still full of anger. Miss Starbrow caught her by the arm. “Tell me what this means--this telegram; when did you get it, and who gave it to you?” she said in such a tone that the girl was compelled to obey. “You know when you sent it,” said Fan. “I never sent it! Oh, my God, can't you understand what I say? Answer--answer my question!” “Rosie gave it to me.” “And you went to Twickenham?” “Yes.” “And what happened?” “And the woman you sent to meet me--” “Hush! don't say that. Are you daft? Don't I tell you I never sent it. Tell me, tell me, or you'll drive me mad!” Fan looked at her in astonishment. Could it be that it had never entered into Mary's heart to do this cruel thing? That raging tempest in her heart was fast subsiding. She began to collect her faculties. “The woman met me,” she continued, “and took me a long way from the station to a little house. She tried to take me upstairs. She said you were waiting for me, but I looked up and saw Captain Horton peeping over the banisters--” Miss Starbrow clenched her hands and uttered a little cry. Her face had become white, and she turned away from the girl. Presently she sat down, and said in a strangely altered voice, “Tell me, Fan, did you take some jewels from my dressing-table--a brooch and three rings, and some other things?” “I took nothing except what you--what the telegram said, and Rosie put the things in a bag and got the cab for me.” For a minute or two Miss Starbrow sat in silence, and then got up and said: “Come, Fan.” “Where?” “Home with me to Dawson Place.” Then she added, “Must I tell you again that I have done nothing to harm you? Do you not understand that it was all a wicked horrible plot to get you away and destroy you, that the telegram was a forgery, that the jewels were taken to make it appear that you had stolen them and run away during my absence from the house?” Fan rose and followed her, and when they got to the Bayswater Road Miss Starbrow called a cab. “Where is your bag--where did you sleep last night?” she asked; and when Fan had told her she said, “Tell the man to drive us there,” and got in. In a few minutes they arrived at her lodging, and Fan got out and went in to get her bag. She did not owe anything for rent, having paid in advance, but she gave the woman a shilling. “I knew I was right,” said the woman, who was now all smiles. “Bless you, miss, you ain't fit to make your own living like one of us. Well, I'm real pleased your friends has found you.”