"As soon as I got the letter," Gilbert continued, "I went over to Surbiton to see her, but when I went there I found she had left the house and gone to a friend in Yorkshire. Mother could tell me nothing, so I have come to you to see if you can help me to some understanding of the matter." "Did Kitty give you no reason?" "She merely said she had changed her mind." "Changed her mind! A woman's reason," said Eversleigh, with a dreary smile. "Kitty was not that kind of woman," declared Gilbert. "There must have been some powerful reason to make her act in this way." The young man, his face working, strode up and down the room. Presently he turned to his father and asked, almost fiercely-- "Can you tell me why this has happened? Do you know why she has broken off with me, and why she is to marry Bennet?" Eversleigh moved uneasily in his chair, looked at his son with a glance of entreaty, but remained silent. "Father," said Gilbert, "you do know something! Will you not tell me of it? Have I not a right to know? I appeal to you to tell me everything." Eversleigh glanced this way and that, like a man seeking some path of escape. "Father," said Gilbert again; "you must tell me! I love Kitty with my whole soul--she is dearer to me than life, and I cannot resign her without a struggle! I must know what has come between her and me. Can you not help me?" "Why don't you write Miss Thornton?" asked Eversleigh. "I shall do so, though the tone of her letter is not encouraging. But do you mean to say you do not know what has made her change her mind?" Eversleigh tried to speak. A frightful struggle was going on within him. Should he tell Gilbert the whole truth or not? Suddenly he made up his mind, as Gilbert said beseechingly-- "Oh father, will you not tell me what you know?" "Yes, I'll tell you what I know--all that I know. But how am I to tell it? You will not forget, Gilbert, that I am your father, your most unhappy father, and you must not condemn me utterly." Condemn! The word had an ominous sound, and Gilbert felt himself grow cold as he heard his father's words. "What is it?" he asked, in a hoarse voice. "Can you cast your thoughts back," said Eversleigh, in a weak and quavering tone, "to a certain Saturday in July, when you were in this office? I had spoken to you of the presence of Mr. Bennet at Ivydene----" "Remember that day!" broke in Gilbert. "Shall I ever forget it? It was on the evening of that day I proposed to Kitty, and she accepted me. I have more cause than ever now to remember it!" "That was the day, Gilbert. It was also the day, you will remember, on which we heard that Mr. Thornton was coming back to England. The whole trouble begins with his letter," said Eversleigh, and stopped with a gulp and a choke. "With Mr. Thornton's letter?"