He took a stolid sort of glory in his iniquities, pleaded “Guilty” to the charges brought against him of taking an active part in all three robberies, and exulted especially in the neatness of the execution of the robbery at Denham Court, where the various articles stolen were being quietly abstracted one by one at different times by Gordon for two or three days before the Tuesday, when they were finally carried off by Mr. Rayner, and taken by him and Tom to the Alders, where Sarah had received them, as I had seen. As to what had become of the jewels afterwards, Tom professed himself as innocent as a child; but, whether this was true or not, nobody believed him. He was sentenced to fourteen years’ penal servitude, and he did not hear the sentence with half so much concern as I. Poor Mrs. Rayner never entirely shook off the gloomy reserve which had grown round her during those long years of her miserable marriage. Kind-hearted Sir Jonas Mills was among the very first to come forward to help her; and, by his generous assistance and that of other friends, she went to live abroad, taking Haidee with her, and Jane, who proved a most devoted servant and friend. Laurence and I, who were married before she left England, undertook the care of poor little savage Mona, who has grown into almost as nice a child as her sister. And now I have one of my own too. THE END. TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES. Florence Warden was the pseudonym of Florence Alice (Price) James. The William Stevens edition (London, 1895?) was consulted for most of the changes listed below and provided the cover image. Alterations to the text: Add TOC. [Title Page] Add author’s credit. [Chapter I] Change “and straggling briers, _nntil_, pushing aside” to _until_. [Chapter II] “too far for their ‘_yonng_ men’ in the town to come” to _young_. “must have been _specialy_ hard to bear with patience” to _specially_. [Chapter V] (And why had the stranger spoken of Tom Parkes as “Jim”) add question mark to sentence. [Chapter VI] “to bring out a volume of _poety_ or a novel” to _poetry_. “another _laddder_ was placed against another window” to _ladder_. (I always put down “Robin Hood” in _confessoin_-books as) to _confession_. [Chapter VIII] “That was six months ago, before you _come_” to _came_. [Chapter IX] “with Mr. Rayner in the schoolroom soon after my _arival_” to _arrival_. “suggested by some half-forgotten experience Thus one day” add period after _experience_. [Chapter X] “he came into the _school-room_ with Mrs. Rayner” to _schoolroom_. [Chapter XIV] “they did not seem to understand, The elder Miss Reade played” change comma to period. “and I ran quickly and _lighty_ down the path to the house” to _lightly_. [Chapter XV] (“Mr. Rayner! Then he must have gone on there from…) delete left double quotation mark. [Chapter XVI] (…curious coincidence, come into your possession.’) change right single quotation mark to right double quotation mark. [Chapter XVIII]