She never learned the true history of little Lenny’s abduction. She was left to believe in the policeman’s theory that the child had been stolen by thieves for the sake of the jewelry on his person. She was told, however, of Meg’s cherishing care of her baby, and she saw for herself the strong attachment existing between them; and so she appointed Meg under nursemaid, and fitted her out with a decent wardrobe. As to Meg’s “parents and guardians,” the thieves of Blood Alley, they were left to their own conjectures on the subject of her absence, and they probably came to just conclusions, and being in possession of their ill-got money, were also probably satisfied. What else? Clarence Everage, the sincerely repentant sinner whom misery had tempted to crime for which nature had never intended him, and whom conscience had afterwards constrained to confession and restitution—Clarence Everage, the poor, proud gentleman, the oppressed public school drudge—was put in possession of the Highland estate, and he became Everage of Killcrichtoun. Alexander advanced the funds to make the house habitable and the land arable. In the bracing air of the mountains his fading wife, and pale little daughters grew rosy and happy, well and strong. Everage also recovered his health and good looks, but never regained the raven hues of his hair. And when his wife or any friend would suggest that it was perfectly proper so young a man—so prematurely gray—should dye his hair, he would shake his head with a melancholy smile and say: “No, no! I wear my gray locks in memory of a great temptation and a great fault, that might have been a fatal one but for the Lord’s goodness.” No one, not even his wife, knew what he meant. And no one ventured to ask him. They saw that the matter was a sacred confidence between himself and his Creator, with which none might intermeddle. In truth, nobody ever knew all the circumstances of little Lenny’s abduction except those immediately concerned in it. Alexander had been generous in his recovered happiness, and had spared the name and fame of the poor gentleman. The Lyon family, of which little Lenny was the greatest lion of all, did not immediately return to their own country. They made the tour of Europe, and worked hard at it, and so they saw about one trillionth part of what was worth seeing. They were accompanied by the Seymours and by Francis Tredegar. At the end of a year they went back to America, and down into Virginia. Soon after their arrival several important family events occurred. First, Drusilla presented little Lenny with a little sister, who was named Annette, and who became his especial delight. Next, Anna became the mother of a fine boy, to the direct controverting of the gipsy fortune-teller’s prediction, which had promised her only girls. And finally, Nanny Seymour and Francis Tredegar were married; and the young couple, after a prolonged bridal tour, took up their abode with Colonel and Mrs. Seymour.