'Oh!' cried Elsie, suddenly springing from her chair--'Oh! Do you know what you have given me? Oh! do you know what you have told me? It is the secret--the secret--of my fortune. Oh! Athelstan gave it to me--Athelstan--my brother!' Mr. Dering took the letter from her and glanced at the contents. 'I ought not to have shown you the letter,' he said. 'I have violated confidence. I forgot. I was thinking of the trouble--I forgot. I forget everything now--the things of yesterday as well as the things of to-day. Yes; it is true, child: your little fortune came to you from your brother. But it was a secret that he alone had the right to reveal.' 'And now I know it-- I know it. Oh! what shall I say to him?' The tears came in her eyes. 'He gave me all he had--all he had--because--oh! for such a simple thing--because I would not believe him to be a villain. Oh! my brother--my poor brother! He went back into poverty again. He gave me all because--oh! for such a little thing!--Mr. Dering!' She turned almost fiercely upon him. 'After such a letter, _could_ you believe that man to be a villain? Could you? Tell me! After such a deed and such a letter!' 'I believe nothing. My experience, however, tells me that any man, whoever he is, may be led to commit----' 'NO! I won't have it said again.--Now, listen, Mr. Dering. These suspicions must cease. There must be an end. Athelstan returned six weeks ago--or thereabouts. That can be proved. Before that time, he was working in San Francisco on the journal. That can be proved. While these forgeries, with which he is now so freely charged, were carried on here, he was abroad. I don't ask you to believe or to disbelieve or to bring up your experience--oh! such experience--one would think you had been a police magistrate all your life.' 'No, Elsie.' Mr. Dering smiled grimly. 'There was no need to sit upon the bench; the police magistrate does not hear so much as the family solicitor. My dear, prove your brother's innocence by finding out who did the thing. That is, after all, the only thing. It matters nothing what I believe--he is not proved innocent--all the world may be suspected of it--until the criminal is found. Remove the suspicions which have gathered about your lover by finding the criminal. There is no other way.' 'Very well, then. I will find the criminal, since no one else can.' Mr. Dering went on without heeding her words. 'They want to get out a warrant against Edmund Gray. I think, for my own part, that the man Edmund Gray has nothing to do with the business. He is said to be an elderly man and a respectable man--a gentleman--who has held his Chambers for ten years.' 'They need not worry about a warrant,' Elsie replied. 'Tell your brother, Mr. Dering, that it will be perfectly useless. Meantime--I doubt if it is any good asking you--but--if we want your help, will you give me all the help you can?' 'Assuredly. All the help I can. Why not? I am the principal person concerned.'