"Ellen Monroe," replied the rector. "I thought so," exclaimed the old woman. "You know her, then?" cried Reginald Tracy in astonishment. "Are you sure she is the same whom you imagine her to be?" "She resides at the house of Mr. Markham in Holloway—does she not?" "She does. But how came you to be acquainted with her? what cause of intimacy could exist between you and her?" demanded the rector. "My left hand never knows what my right hand does," said the hag. "If I reveal to you the affairs of another, how could you put confidence in me when I declare that your own secrets shall not be communicated to Lady Harborough or any one else who might question me?" "True!" said the rector: "I cannot blame your discretion. "But tell me—have you any hope that I may succeed?" "The business is a difficult one," answered the hag. "And yet greater obstacles than I can here see have been overcome—aye, and by me, too. Did I not tell Lady Harborough that I would bring you back to her arms? and did I not succeed? Am I then to be foiled now. Show me the weakness of a human being, and I direct all my energies against that failing. Ellen Monroe has two vulnerable points——" "Which are they?" asked the rector eagerly. "Her vanity and her love for her father," replied the harridan. "Leave her to me: when I am ready for you I will call upon you." "And you will lose no time, good woman?" said the rector, overjoyed at the hopes held out to him. "I will not let the grass grow under my feet," returned the hag. "But you must have patience; for the girl is stubborn—sadly stubborn. Art, and not entreaties, will prevail with her." "In any case, manage your matters in such a way that I cannot be compromised," said the rector; "and your reward shall be most liberal." "Trust to me," murmured the hag. Reginald Tracy once more enveloped himself in his cloak, and took his departure. "And so I have made a discovery this evening!" mused the hag, when she was once more alone. "Miss Ellen is a mother—she has a child of six or seven months old! She never told me that when she came to seek my aid, and I gave her the card of the Mesmerist;—she never told me that when she sought me after that, and I sent her to the Manager;—she never told me that when I met her at Greenwood's house in the country, and from which she escaped by the window. The cunning puss! She does not even think that I know where she lives;—but Lafleur told me that—Lafleur told me that! He is the prince of French valets—worth a thousand such moody, reserved Italians as Filippo! So now the rector must possess Miss Ellen? Well—and he shall, too, if I have any skill left—if I have any ingenuity to aid him!" Then the hag concealed the five pieces of glittering gold which the rector had given her, in her Dutch clock; and having thus secured the wages of her iniquity, she proceeded to mix herself a steaming glass of gin-and-water to assist her meditations concerning the business entrusted to her.