"From England?" she said, and her delicate cheeks grew white. "Oh, Lawrence, have they found out who murdered Sydney yet?" "Not yet, dear, but the detective is very hopeful. He is on the villain's track." "Who was he? What is his name?" she asked, eagerly. "I do not know. He writes very meagerly, though hopefully. He merely says that he has found your maid, Elsie Gray, and that she has put him on the track of the murderer." "It is not possible that Elsie Gray was concerned in the murder of my sister!" she exclaimed. "Oh, no, she was a witness to the deed only--at least I gather that much from his letter. I think she has been pursuing him ever since. The detective says that we may expect startling developments soon." "God grant that the cowardly criminal may soon be discovered and punished for his awful sin!" she exclaimed, shuddering. "Queenie," he said, musingly, "have you ever thought that but for the sin of this unknown man we should never, perhaps, have been reunited in peace and happiness? To-day you might have been in the lonely convent cell, while I, perhaps, should have raved in the chains of a lunatic, for, Queenie, I was going mad with the horror of losing you again." "I have thought of it often," she said, gravely, "and I have thought again and again that it was almost wrong to accept happiness that was bought at so fearful a price to my poor Sydney. Her death lies heavy on my heart." "Queenie, we both did what we could to insure her happiness while she lived. I married her because one very near to her hinted to me that the poor girl was dying of a broken heart for my sake. I did not love her, but I sacrificed myself to save her, as you afterward sacrificed us both at her request. And yet those mutual bitter sacrifices of ours availed very little to secure the end she sought. I begin to believe that such terrible self-abnegations are wrong and unjustifiable, and that they never work out good to any." "It may be true," she answered, thoughtfully, and relapsed into silence, her eyes downcast, her lips set in a half-sorrowful line, while she unconsciously checked the speed of the horses and allowed them to walk slowly along the drive. Absorbed in thought she did not observe a handsome, fashionably-dressed man coming along the side-path toward them, airily swinging a natty little cane. "I hope and trust, darling, that you will not allow any weak and morbid fancies regarding Sydney to sadden and depress you," continued Captain Ernscliffe. "I know she would not wish it to be so." Queenie looked up at him gently with the words of reply just forming on her lips. But they died unspoken, and she uttered a low cry of fear and terror commingled, while her whole form trembled violently. She had caught sight of the man in the road who had just come abreast of the phaeton.