Thus, Charles Hatfield suddenly adopted the belief that Tamar was not Rainford’s wife. Neither, indeed, was she at the time when Rainford was arrested by Mr. Dykes; and it never struck the young man that the matrimonial ceremony might have been performed between the period of Rainford’s resuscitation and the murder of the Jewish lady. For when the nuptial blessing _was_ performed in Paris, Charles--being then a mere boy--was not present at the proceedings which took place as privately as possible in the British Ambassador’s Chapel. As for his suspicion that the Countess of Ellingham was ashamed to breathe the name of Tamar,--Oh! the reader may judge how erroneous was that belief! In her heart of hearts did the generous Esther treasure the image of that dearly-beloved sister;--and if neither herself nor her noble husband ever breathed her name, it was through kind feelings towards Mr. Hatfield and motives of delicacy in respect to Georgiana. But Charles, being as yet ignorant that his father and Rainford were one and the same person, could not possibly suspect the necessity for the exercise of such kind feelings on the one hand or such delicacy on the other. “And thus,” murmured Charles to himself, as he closed the book which had made such marvellous and horrifying revelations,--“and thus Thomas Rainford was a highwayman! The good--kind-hearted--generous man who loved me, was a felon--a criminal: he passed through the hands of the public executioner! Oh! my God--what dreadful things have I this night learnt!” he exclaimed aloud, pressing his hand to his forehead. “But how came this Thomas Rainford to have the care of me?--how was it that my parents could have left me so long in his hands--or at his disposal? Oh! no wonder--no wonder that Mr. de Medina and Esther should have charged me, when first they left me at school, never to mention the name of Rainford! And now how many gaps in the earliest portion of my reminiscences are filled up,--that absence of Mr. Rainford for several weeks, during which period I pined after him--that constant weeping of Tamar--then the removal to Mr. de Medina’s house, and the sudden revival of joy which Tamar experienced there. But--a highwayman--a felon--a criminal! Oh! what awful mysteries envelop all this matter still! For the Earl of Ellingham was intimate with Rainford--and it was said, I remember, that at Mr. de Medina’s death he left to this same Rainford a large fortune. A fortune to whom?--to the seducer of his daughter--to one who had passed through the hands of the public executioner! And Lord Ellingham was intimate with the man who seduced the sister of his intended wife;--and Esther was friendly likewise with him who ruined that sister. Gracious God! all this is most unaccountable--so unaccountable, that I am lost and bewildered! But most mysterious--ten thousand times the most mysterious of all these incidents, is that one grand fact to which I cannot but recur,--how