The events of the night before, aided by Kent-Lauriston's suggestive comments, had brought him face to face with a question to which he had hitherto avoided giving an answer. _Was Miss Fitzgerald a party to the conspiracy to defeat the treaty?_ He put it to himself in so many words. Repugnant as was the task, the Secretary felt that he must, in the interests of his country, put sentiment aside and face the facts. It was not to be supposed because he had made the mistake of taking pity for love, in the case of the lady, that he was any the less indifferent to her fate. He still considered himself bound to her, should she ask the redemption of his promise; he had championed her purity and innocence in the face of all opposition; and it was inexpressibly shocking to him to find himself forced to consider even the possibility of her being connected with such a nefarious transaction. Yet he felt it only just to face the evidence against her, and seek to the best of his ability to rebut it. What reasons were there for supposing her to be connected with the plot to defeat the treaty? He placed them in order of their occurrence. 1. He had seen her driving with Mr. Riddle on the day after his dinner. 2. She had denied her acquaintance with Darcy, in his presence, to that gentleman's wife, though she had since been proven to be very intimate with him. 3. She had proposed a game of cards, and suggested Stanley's using an old letter to score on, which proposal and suggestion had led to the restoration of the secret instructions to Mr. Riddle. 4. Kent-Lauriston said she had asked Kingsland to take the chests containing the money to London. 5. She had been in the hall late the night before, assisting Darcy to break open the door. This was all the evidence against her. Did it prove that she was a partner to the plot? No, he told himself. It did not. Did it prove that she was a dupe of these men? An innocent instrument in the furtherance of their vile conspiracy? He was forced to admit the possibility of this, though he told himself he knew her too well to believe for an instant that she had any knowledge of the plot itself, or the desperate game her friends were playing. It now became his duty to save the Irish girl from the consequences of her own folly; to open her eyes to the true character of her friends. He could only do this by proving their complicity. The destruction of the plot, and her salvation alike, hung on the recovery of that lost letter, for in the light of the events of the past night, it seemed fair to assume that this paper had an important bearing on the conspiracy, and was necessary to its success. The money had been sent, the time was short, but Darcy still remained. Why did he do so, unless it was to attempt a recovery of the document? It must, then, be of vital importance.