"And I also have wished to hold you thus," he replied, kissing her, "but we were kept apart by wicked men, dearest. Now we are together, please God, we shall never part again." "Amen to that," murmured Arnold, who had sat down. "Schaibar has told me everything," said Mavis, still crying. "Oh, what a wicked world it is outside the Pixy's House, Gerald." "There can be no wickedness where you are, darling. You will not find me like Major Rebb." "Oh, but, Gerald, surely my guardian is kind?" "Has he proved himself kind, to accuse you of murdering Bellaria?" Mavis drew back, with a pale face and startled eyes. "There--must--be--some--mistake," she faltered. "Why should I kill Bellaria?" "Oh, Rebb knows quite well that you did not: but to suit his own ends he is willing that you should suffer." "Is it for that horrid money Schaibar told me about?" she asked tearfully. "Yes; Rebb thinks that six thousand a year is worth losing his own soul for. It is the world he gains, and the price he pays. But he shall not succeed, my sweetheart; you shall have your own way, I swear." "Gerald! Gerald! I would much rather fly away with you to the end of the world, and leave everything to my guardian." "I daresay, dear; and in the South Seas, no doubt, we could find an Eden whither that serpent would not come. But your good name has to be considered, Mavis. Rebb has put it about that you are insane, and that such insanity made you kill Bellaria." Mavis sat down on the locker, looking utterly miserable. "I know! I know!" she cried, rocking with the terror of her thoughts. "Schaibar has told me what my guardian said to people outside to account for my being locked up in the Pixy's House. And to think that he should have said to me that all English girls were brought up as I was! Why did you not tell me before that my guardian was deceiving me?" she asked her former tutor.