I hesitated. The man’s cold curiosity seemed so unlike the warm interest of a brother that I began to wonder whether I was right in giving him the information he wanted. My doubts were so vague and his questions so very harmless, however, that, when he said-- “I beg your pardon, miss--of course it is not for a lady like you to interest yourself in the likes of us--” I broke out-- “Oh, pray don’t think that! Sarah has an admirer, I know--” I stopped. I could not say anything reassuring about Tom Parkes. “Ah! An honest hard-working fellow, I hope, who’ll make her a good husband.” He was more interested now, and was looking at me very searchingly. “I can’t speak to a man’s prejudice behind his back,” said I slowly; “but--” He was very much interested at last, and was waiting impatiently for my next words, when Mr. Rayner quietly entered the room. There had been no ring at the front door. He looked inquiringly at the man, whom I was just going to introduce as Sarah’s brother, when the latter anticipated me by saying quietly-- “From Scotland Yard, sir.” “Scotland Yard?” echoed Mr. Rayner inquiringly. But the name did not seem new to him, as it did to me. “Yes, sir; I’ve been sent after a woman named Sarah Gooch, from information received that she was in your service. Mr. Gervas Rayner I believe, sir?” Why did he not own he was her brother? I thought to myself. “Yes, that is my name. But what on earth do you want with my servant, Sarah Gooch?” The man glanced at me. Mr. Rayner said-- “Go on. Never mind this lady; she is as much interested in the woman as I am. What do you want with my old servant Sarah?” “Suspected of complicity in the Denham Court robbery, sir--some of the property traced to her.” I started violently. This man, then, was not Sarah’s brother at all, but a detective who had been trying to extract information from me by a trick! Mr. Rayner stared full in his face for a few moments, as if unable to find words; then he exclaimed, in a low voice-- “Impossible!” “Sorry to shake your trust in an old servant, sir; but proof is proof.” “But what proof have you?” asked Mr. Rayner earnestly. “Last Friday afternoon, between half-past four and twenty minutes to five, your servant Sarah Gooch was seen to give the contents of a black bag to a man in Beaconsburgh. The fact excited no suspicion. The man took the next train to London, travelling second-class. But south of Colchester he was seized with a fit; he was taken out at the next station, the bag he had with him examined for his address, jewels found in it, and the police at Scotland Yard communicated with. The man escaped; but, on inquiries being made, witnesses were found to prove conclusively that the biscuit-tin which contained the jewel had been handed to him in a street in Beaconsburgh, on Friday afternoon, between half-past four and twenty minutes to five, by a woman who was identified as Sarah Gooch.”