"I will see him at Thorston. Meantime it is necessary that I become acquainted with your mother. Now come and wire an acceptance to Hilliston, and write a letter to your mother for me to deliver." Claude obeyed. He was quite content to accept the guidance of Tait in this matter, and began to think that his friend was right in suspecting Hilliston. Else why did the lawyer's plans so coincide with their own. "Mind you don't tell Hilliston too much," said Tait, when the wire was despatched. "I shall tell him that we go to Thorston shortly, and that we saw John Parver." "No; don't tell him about John Parver. He will be certain to mention the subject first." "Well, and if he does----" "Oh, you must use your brains," replied Tait ironically. "Baffle his curiosity, and above all, make no mention of the breastpin episode related in the third volume." "Why not?" "Because Jenny Paynton told Linton of that. She could not have obtained it from the newspapers, as it is not related therein." "It is pure invention." "No! I believe it to be a fact." "But who could have told it to Miss Paynton?" "Ah!" said Tait, in a low tone. "Find me the person who told her that and I'll find the man who murdered your father." CHAPTER XVII. THE HUSBAND AT KENSINGTON GORE. TO a woman who rules by right of beauty it is a terrible thing to see her empire slipping from her grasp by reason of gray hairs and wrinkles. What desperate efforts does she make to protract her sway, how she dyes and paints and powders and tight laces--all to no end, for Time is stronger than Art, and finally he writes his sign-manual too deep to be effaced by cosmetics. Mrs. Hilliston was not yet beaten in the fight with the old enemy, but she foresaw the future when she would be shamed and neglected close at hand. Perhaps it was this premonition of defeat that made her so unamiable, sharp, and bitter on the night when Claude came to dine. She liked Claude and had stood in the place of a mother to him; but he was a man, and handsome, so when she saw his surprised look at her changed appearance all the evil that was in her came to the surface. Yet she need not have felt so bitter a pang, had she taken the trouble to glance at her image in the near mirror. It reflected a tall, stylish figure, which, in the dim light of the drawing room, looked majestic and beautiful. It was all very well to think that she appeared barely thirty in the twilight, but she knew well that the daylight showed up her forty-seven years in the most merciless manner. Velvet robes, diamond necklaces, and such like aids to beauty would not make up for lack of youth, and Claude's ill-advised start brought this home to her.