Maxwell, in a state of great excitement, consulted Mrs. Belswin and Kaituna, and they, considering that a bird in the hand was worth two in the bush, decided to sell at that price. Instructions were wired out to Clendon to realise without delay, which he did carefully by selling the shares in parcels, as two thousand thrown on the market, for no apparent cause, would have caused a drop in the price. The selling took some time; but at the end of a month or so the whole two thousand were disposed of, and the amount standing to the credit of Miss Kaituna Pethram in The Bank of Australia was somewhere about four hundred thousand pounds, which was certainly a very respectable fortune for a girl formerly penniless. Kaituna herself was wild with joy, and wanted to marry Maxwell at once; but, strange to say, he that had urged on the marriage when she was poor, now held back, lest it should be said he was marrying her for her money. Mrs. Belswin, however, promptly settled all that, and talked him over into getting married at once. Then a letter was received from Toby, saying that he also had been successful in mining speculations to the amount of some thousands, and was on his way home to Miss Valpy and matrimony. Ultimately the two girls decided that they would be married in the same way, and Archie felt deeply grateful that things had turned out so well; while Mrs. Belswin, confident now that Kaituna's happiness was secured, both as regards income and marriage, looked upon her life's work as over. Of course she had to reckon with Ferrari who still urged her to marry him; and as she had told Archie that she was engaged to the Italian, she did not very well see how she was going to escape this match, which was decidedly repugnant to her, as it separated her from her child, and gave her to a man for whom she cared nothing. Belk also hinted that his intentions were matrimonial as soon as he had amassed sufficient money; so Mrs. Belswin lamented the good looks which had placed her between two matrimonial fires. While she was in this unpleasant situation, Fate, in the person of Mr. Dombrain, intervened and decided the question in a highly unpleasant manner. After his failure to convict Ferrari and Belk of the crime of murder, Archie had quite given up the idea of finding out the assassin; and Kaituna began to think that he would never be discovered. She proposed to Archie when they were married, to devote their newly gained wealth to seeking out the cowardly assassin; but Maxwell, who had grave doubts about Mrs. Belswin, Ferrari, and Belk, endeavoured to dissuade her. It will be said that if Maxwell had doubts like this, why did he permit Kaituna to remain with the companion? But the fact is, all his doubts were very undecided. He could not accuse Mrs. Belswin, as he had no evidence to go on, so he was forced to remain quiet and let things take their course.