Mrs. Alexander scarcely spoke all the way home, and insisted upon going directly to her room alone, although Virgie begged to be allowed to do something for her—to stay with her during the night. “All that I need is rest and quiet,” she said. “Good-night my darling!” She kissed her tenderly, wondering, with a terrible heart-pang, how she could ever tell her that her lover’s guardian was her own father—the man who had so cruelly wronged his wife and child more than eighteen years ago. Once in the room, without even stopping to remove her wraps, she went to her writing-desk, drew forth a package from a drawer in it, and took it to the light for examination. It was the mysterious package which her uncle, Mark Alexander, had confided to her on his death-bed, charging her to return it to the owner should she ever discover who that person was. She had discovered that night to whom it belonged. She held the seal close to the candle, and gazed upon it with darkening eyes and sternly compressed lips. It was stamped with a shield bearing a patriarchal cross, and under it was the motto, “_Droit et Loyal_.” “How strange!” she murmured. “It belongs to his sister—to that woman who mocked and scorned me; whom I saved from a dreadful death, and nursed through a critical illness! She must have been one of those women whom Uncle Mark heard conversing together that day in the hotel parlor here in London. How wonderful that anything belonging to her should have fallen into my hands! How wonderful everything is—Virgie’s betrothal to Rupert—her meeting with him to-night! How will it all end? To think that he was there, in the same house with me, this evening! I am really curious to know what this contains,” she continued, turning the package over and over, and regarding it with troubled eyes, while her thoughts were busy with the past. “Well,” she concluded, after musing for several minutes, “it must be returned to its owner, I suppose. I promised, and I must fulfill my word. Yes,” lifting her head resolutely, “she shall have it on the day that my darling stands within her ancestral halls the acknowledged heiress of Heathdale, not before.” CHAPTER XVIII. A SUDDEN FLITTING. The next morning Mrs. Alexander’s lawyer, Mr. Thurston, made a call upon his client, and had an interview with her of more than two hours’ duration. After his departure, she sought Virgie, with a very grave face, and explained the nature of his business, which caused the young girl to open wide her lovely eyes and exclaim, with astonishment: “Why, mamma, it is the strangest romance in the world! I never heard anything like it!” “Well, dear, get yourself ready as soon as possible, for we must leave town this afternoon, as there is no time to lose,” her mother replied, as she arose to go to make her own preparations for the proposed journey. “But, mamma, what shall I do about Rupert?” Virgie asked, looking troubled.