“It was shameful of him to let me suffer so much,” she cried, “when a few lines from him would have made me so happy;” and then she was grateful to Providence again, and angry with herself for having been angry with Francis; and then she pounced upon Susan and kissed her. “What am I to do, darling?” she asked. “I dare say he has gone off by some other horrible steamer. But wherever he is, I won’t stop idle in this dreary house. I won’t trust everything to that slow solemn lawyer. I’ll go to Cornwall myself, Susy, and find out all about my husband; how long he stayed there, and when he left. You’ll tell me where to go; won’t you, Susy?” Of course Susan was ready to give her cousin’s wife all needful information about that forgotten corner of the earth, Landresdale. She would have volunteered to accompany Maude to the western moors, only there was the boy; and Susan had an idea that if she were to turn her back upon her son for twenty-four consecutive hours, he would inevitably be seized with measles or scarlatina in her absence. But Maude declared she wanted no one to accompany her. “I suppose I must take my maid,” she said; “but I shall leave her at the inn at Falmouth, and go alone to that queer old house on the moor, and those queer old people Francis once told me about.” Julia Desmond had to endure a good deal that morning, for Maude was radiant when she appeared with Susan at the breakfast-table. She was so grateful to Susan for hurrying to her in the early morning. “Every night, when I have gone to sleep, I have thought the same thing,” she said: “if I could only wake and find it all a dream--if I could wake to find it only a dream! And this morning I did wake to find an angel standing by my bed with the best news I ever heard in all my life. But I am very sorry for those poor people who were really lost in the _Kingfisher_,” added Maude, mournfully; she felt that there was something almost incongruous in her own happiness when so many must be sorrowful for the destruction of that ill-fated vessel. While she was making preparations for her departure, Mr. Kursdale, the solicitor, was announced. He came radiant and red-faced to tell her the result of inquiries which he had considered it expedient to have made at Plymouth before taking any legal steps with regard to the supposed demise of his respected client; and the result was that Francis had not sailed in the _Kingfisher_; and he was very proud and happy to announce to Mrs. Tredethlyn---- He would have gone on in a ponderous manner for some time longer, if Maude had not interrupted him by the assurance that she knew all about it. “You did not ascertain that my husband had left Plymouth by any other vessel?” she asked. “No.” “Then we may hope he is still in England. I am going to Cornwall immediately to look for him. At the worst, I shall there hear all about him.”