Heaven knows what would have happened if she had; but instead she found the strong, hideous old man, whose leering looks had struck terror to her heart, and she now believed that he also was cognizant of the fatal secret which was fraught with such danger to her. Her thoughts and feelings were anything but enviable ones as she walked up the steps of the brown-stone palace she called her home. As she passed through the hall she saw the drawing-room door ajar, and heard voices. She tip-toed to the door and peeped cautiously in. Lancelot Darling was there, his handsome head bowed over the couch where Ada half reclined, listening to a poem which Lancelot was reading aloud. They looked cozy, comfortable, and supremely contented to the jealous eyes that glared steadily upon them. She made no sign, however, but went on to her room, with a tempest in her heart which, however, did not prevent her from subsequently descending to the drawing-room, where she set herself to work by every beguiling art of which she was mistress, to wile away the unconscious young man from the side of the beautiful Ada. CHAPTER XVIII. Haidee Leveret had scarcely returned from locking the door after her despairing visitor when she was confronted by her husband. Old Peter's eyes snapped viciously, his hideous old face was flushed crimson, and his shock of bristly red hair stood erect with indignation. "Now, then, madam," said he, with a snort of rage, "I have caught you at your sly tricks, have I?" "What is the matter with you, old man?" inquired his spouse, affecting serene unconsciousness. "Oh, you may well ask!" snapped her liege lord. "You haven't been and gone and discovered a mine of wealth and worked it yourself in secret, denying your poor honest old husband a share in the profits--oh, no, you have not!" "Shut up your nonsense," said Haidee, witheringly. "You haven't got a secret against a great lady," pursued old Peter, disregarding her adjuration. "A great lady who follows you home to lavish gold upon you, and who wants to know if poor old Peter shares the secret with you, that she may bestow some of her wealth upon him. You have not got your pockets full of gold at this moment--oh, no, no, no!" "You have been eavesdropping, you devil," cried his wife in a rage. "Well, what if I have?" snapped he. "When a woman has secrets from her husband--a kind, faithful old man like you have got, Haidee--it is his right to find out all he can by hook or by crook. I have a mind to search your pockets this minute, and see what hoards of wealth you have hidden there now." "Have done with your foolishness, old man," said Haidee, with an uneasy consciousness of the costly golden brooch and bracelet, lying _perdu_ in her pocket that minute. "Will you turn your pocket inside out then, and let me see if it is empty?" asked her husband threateningly. "No, I won't," was the sullen response.