"I'm going to him now," she cried. "We'll see who will be worsted in the fight. I'll silence his taunts. There'll be no more chuckling over his daughter's misery--no more insults and abuse of you, John." "My dear Mary, you mustn't think of going now. You're unsprung, overcome. You'll do something rash. Let us be satisfied for the present with this great change of fortune. One ghost at least is laid--the terror of poverty. The way lies open now for our honorable confession. You see that, don't you?" he pleaded. "We can delay no longer. There is no excuse. By the return of our boy, the ground was cut from beneath our feet. What does it matter what the world says of us, when we have made things right with our God, when we have done justice by our brave son?" "Oh, no--think of Netty." "Ah, Netty is in trouble, dearest. She's had bad news to-day. Harry Bent talks of canceling his engagement. The scandal has reached the ears of his family, and his money-affairs are dependent on his mother, whom he can't offend. You see, darling, the sins of the fathers have begun to descend on the children--Dick and Netty both stricken. We must confess!--confess!" "I can't, John, I can't--I can't. Dick won't hear of it." "Dick has no voice in the matter at all. It is the voice of God that calls." "Yes, yes, I know, John, but--wait till I've seen father once more. I won't listen to you, I won't eat, I won't sleep, until I've seen him. I'll go to him at once." "I must come, too," urged the rector weakly. Yet, the thought of facing the miser's taunts at such a time filled him with unspeakable dread. And he could not tell her that Dick's arrest was imminent. "Have some food, dearest, and go afterward." "I couldn't eat. It would choke me," Mrs. Swinton said, rebelliously. Netty, hearing her mother's voice, came into the room, her eyes red with weeping. "You've heard, mother?" she cried, plaintively. "I've heard, Netty. To-morrow Mrs. Bent will be sorry. We're no longer paupers, Netty." "Why, grandfather isn't dead?" "No, but we are rich. He's a thief. We've always been rich. Your grandfather has robbed us of hundreds of thousands--all my mother's fortune. I've only just found it out to-day from a lawyer." "Oh, the villain!" cried Netty. "But I shall be jilted all the same. Dick has ruined and disgraced us all. I'm snubbed--jilted--thrown over, because my brother is a felon." "Silence, Netty. There are other people in the world beside yourself to think of," cried the rector. "Well, nobody ever thinks of me," sobbed the girl, angrily. There was a loud rattling at the front door. The rector started, and listened in terror. "Too late!" he groaned, dropping into a chair. "It's the police!" "John, you have betrayed me--after all!" screamed his wife, looking wildly around like a hunted thing. He bowed his head in assent. He misunderstood her meaning. "Ormsby has been here. He found out--by a slip of the tongue." CHAPTER XXVIII THE WILL