"At eight o'clock precisely our reporter arrived at No. 21 Forston Street, Camden Town, and was ushered into the room occupied by Mrs. Weston and her daughter Constance. Lovely as had been the young girl's appearance last night, she was even lovelier now. Then her face was darkened with anxiety, now it was free from care, and the most careless observer could not have failed to know that a perfect and most beautiful love existed between the mother and her child. The young lady blushed as our reporter entered, and rose and offered him her hand. "'I beg you to forgive my rudeness last night,' she said. 'I did not know then.' "'Your conduct was perfectly natural, he said, taking her hand, 'such as I should have approved of in a sister of my own.' "She bowed gracefully, and retired to an inner room. "'It is my wish,' explained the elder lady, 'that our interview should be private. What have you there?' "He had brought the new suit of clothes with him, and he had placed the brown paper parcel on the table and was now untying it. Her face turned to a deadly whiteness when the suit was exposed. "'You have nothing to fear,' said our reporter. 'I have brought this with me to convince you how necessary it is that you should have by you a friend as sincere as I.' "He then related to her what had passed between him and the inspector with reference to the suit which had been found in the river, and also the particulars of his visit to the clothing establishment in Tottenham Court Road. "In the interests of our readers we withhold a categorical account of the conversation which ensued. Sufficient for the present to state that the lady placed in this reliable gentleman the most implicit confidence. Our narrative now assumes another shape. A strange and pathetic drama is about to be unfolded. The veil which enshrouds the past will be uplifted, and we owe our reporter our grateful thanks for the manner in which he has chosen to narrate as touching a story as has ever been presented to the readers of fiction. It links the past with the present, and it is true to the life. For a little while our reporter and ourselves disappear from the scene. We may revert hereafter to our original plan--indeed we may be compelled to revert to it in this way because the matters of which we shall have to speak are public property. What follows is a literal copy of the manuscript supplied by our reporter; not an incident is exaggerated, not a passion disfigured. Step by step, with unswerving zeal and untiring devotion, the Mystery of M. Felix is being unravelled and brought to light." _BOOK SECOND_. A LIFE DRAMA: LINKS IN THE MYSTERY. CHAPTER XXII. THE HALF-BROTHERS.