"Ten minutes past the usual time. I do not think Keith would have been the worse." "It doesn't matter. I gave him some fruit—instead. And I wanted—I had something to say—" Nobody asked her what it was. The other two simply waited. Susanna was gone; and Dr. Bryant peeled an orange for Lettice. Theodosia's colour deepened, and she played with a bunch of raisins, pulling it slowly to pieces. "I have something to tell you," she said again, breaking silence. "Well?" responded the Doctor. "I have found the lost bank-note." Theodosia tossed a crumpled bit of paper across the length of the table, towards her husband. With a visible sharp movement of surprise, Dr. Bryant leant forward to pick it up. Lettice sprang to her feet. "The bank-note! Found!" she cried. "Oh, I am so glad! Oh, I am glad!" Theodosia sneered—a wordless but distinct sneer. Dr. Bryant glanced from the one to the other. "You have stumbled upon it at last! Not in your desk surely?" Theodosia's eyes glittered. "No! No; not in my desk." She took another bunch of raisins, and broke them from the stalk, with nervous haste, as if unable to keep still. Lettice sat down, glowing with pure heartfelt delight; for this discovery entirely exonerated her brother. "Poor Felix! How could I ever have thought such a thing?" she asked herself; and then she came to a rapid resolve not to let any one know what she had imagined—not even Dr. Bryant. This, at least, was in her power, by way of reparation for the wrong she had done to him. "I must have been crazy! Of course he never did, never would, never could! Of course not! Nobody must ever even guess that I had such a fancy. It might make people think that he really could do that sort of thing, if they knew I had suspected it—I, his own sister! I ought to have understood him better! Poor Felix! What a shame it has been!" Then she woke up to hear Theodosia speaking, with a repetition of former words— "No: not in my desk. Do you wish to know where it was?" "What does that matter, so found?" cried Lettice joyously. "So long as the wrong person cannot be blamed." "Not much fear of that—now!" declared Theodosia hardily, gazing past Lettice. "I should say that it mattered a good deal—to the person in whose box it was hidden." CHAPTER XIII. THE VALENTINES AGAIN. DR. BRYANT made a hasty movement. "What do you mean? Where did you find the note?" "You are not likely to guess." "Guess! Nonsense. This is no matter for jesting. Where was it?" A vague alarm had seized him, and he was in danger of losing his usual equanimity.