LONDON CHATTO & WINDUS 1899 PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BECCLES. CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE I. WAS IT SUBSTITUTION? 1 II. THE ONLY WITNESS GONE 15 III. THE THREE COUSINS 23 IV. THE CONSULTING-ROOM 46 V. GUEST NIGHT 57 VI. THE OLD LOVER 73 VII. THE MASTER OF THE SITUATION 84 VIII. THE COUSINS 92 IX. ONE MORE 110 X. COUSIN ALFRED'S SECRET 116 XI. THE DOCTOR'S DINNER 126 XII. THE OTHER CHILD OF DESERTION 143 XIII. A MIDNIGHT WALK 157 XIV. THE FIRST MOVE 169 XV. TWO JUMPS AND A CONCLUSION 185 XVI. A WRETCH 199 XVII. THE SECOND BLOW 210 XVIII. A GRACIOUS LADY 222 XIX. A CABINET COUNCIL 241 XX. JOHN HAVERIL CLEARS UP THINGS 253 XXI. "TO BE OFF WITH THE OLD LOVE" 265 XXII. THE CLAN AGAIN 276 XXIII. ONE MORE ATTEMPT 290 XXIV. A HORRID NIGHT 300 XXV. THE FIRST MOTHER 313 XXVI. THE SECOND MOTHER 322 CHAPTER THE LAST. FORGIVENESS 336 THE CHANGELING. CHAPTER I. WAS IT SUBSTITUTION? "Pray be seated, madam." The doctor offered his visitor a chair. Then he closed the door, with perhaps a more marked manner than one generally displays in this simple operation. "I am happy to inform you," he began, "that the arrangements--the arrangements," he repeated with meaning, "are now completed." The lady was quite young--not more than twenty-two or so--a handsome woman, a woman of distinction. Her face was full of sadness; her eyes were full of trouble; her lips trembled; her fingers nervously clutched the arms of the chair. When the doctor mentioned the arrangements, her cheek flushed and then paled. In a word, she betrayed every external sign of terror, sorrow, and anxiety. "And when can I leave this place?" "This day: as soon as you please." "The woman made no objections?" "None. You can have the child." "I have told you my reasons for wishing to adopt this child"--he had never asked her reasons, yet at every interview she repeated them: "my own boy is dead. He is dead." There was a world of trouble in the repetition of the word. The doctor bowed coldly. "Your reasons, madam," he said, "are sufficient for yourself. I have followed your instructions without asking for your reasons. That is to say, I have found the kind of child you want: light hair and blue eyes, apparently sound and healthy; at all events, the child of a sound and healthy mother. As for your reasons, I do not inquire." "I thought you might like----"