"Oh, I'm glad of that," said Kaituna, with a flush; "you know I want you to help me gain papa's consent to my marriage with Archie." Mrs. Belswin smiled bitterly as she kissed her daughter, knowing how weak was the reed upon which the girl leaned. She ask Rupert Pethram to consent to the marriage--she dare to demand a favour of the man she had wronged for the child she had forsaken! She almost laughed as she thought of the terrible irony of the situation, but, restraining herself with her usual self-command, bade the girl hope for the best. "Your father must like Mr. Maxwell, he is such a charming young fellow," she said encouragingly, "and as you love him so dearly, Sir Rupert, for the sake of your happiness, may perhaps overlook his want of money." "But you will speak to papa, Mrs. Belswin?" "Yes; if I see your father on my return I will certainly speak to him." "How strangely you talk," said Kaituna, rather puzzled; "if you come back in a fortnight you will be sure to see papa." "Of course, dear! of course. I was only thinking that some unforeseen accident----" "Oh, no, no!" "Kaituna, you love your father very dearly." "Very, very dearly. He is all I have in the world." It required all Mrs. Belswin's self-restraint to prevent her then and there throwing herself into the girl's arms and telling her all. Such a course, however, would have been worse than madness, so she was forced to crush down her maternal feelings. After this interview with Kaituna, she departed for London--departed for the possible commission of a crime, and as the carriage left Thornstream she looked back with a sigh to the girl standing on the terrace. "Perhaps I shall never see her again," she said, with a groan, throwing herself back in her seat. "But no; that will never happen; even if Rupert does turn me out of the house he will not tell Kaituna anything to destroy her belief in her mother, so I shall some day meet her with her husband." Her lips curled as she said this, knowing well that Sir Rupert would never give his consent to the marriage, and then she clenched her hands with a frown. "He must consent to the marriage--Kaituna's heart is set on it. He can destroy my happiness, but I'll kill him before he destroys that of my child." And with this firm determination she left her husband's house--the house in which she should have reigned a happy mistress and mother, and the house into which she had crept like a disguised thief, the house which she, in the mad instinct of her savage nature, intended to deprive of its master. While waiting on the railway platform for the London train, she saw Samson Belk.