that Lady Trevor, 'half a Frenchwoman,' as the neighbours called her, though, indeed, it was difficult to understand the process by which they arrived at that conclusion, since she must have been either whole French or whole English-should have a turn for arithmetic and the keeping of accounts. Mr. Morris's view of a Frenchwoman was a combination of ideas derived from the ballet, the Divorce Court, and the principal plate in a stray number of the Magasin des Modes, which a spinster aunt of his once purchased at a London bookstall.

A certain sentiment of curiosity to know what 'the woman' would do with his bills and vouchers when she got them mingled with his ire. There was no alternative for him but to leave them with her; but if he could get any hint as to her intended proceedings, he felt it would be some relief to him. It was only too certain that she was one of those cattle which might be led, but not drove,' and, alas! he had for many years been only accustomed to driving.

'Is there any particular matter which your ladyship has in your mind, or to which you would wish to draw my attention?'

'Well, since you have put that question, Mr. Morris,' she replied, in a more conciliatory tone, it would be uncivil-and perhaps even underhand-to conceal from you that there are two items in your charge for repairs

'Items!' ejaculated Sir Richard in a tone of irritation; 'you don't mean to say that you are going into items? You know I particularly stipulated, Nannie, that I should be spared all disquieting details. I'm not well, Morris, and that's the fact,' he added apologetically, or what you have to say about all these things would be deeply interesting to me, of course.'

'Still, Sir Richard, having said so much,' observed Lady Trevor, I think it due to Mr. Morris that I should say a little more. The matter will not take five minutes.'

'My dear, you talk like the dentist,' interrupted Sir Richard, laughing. I know you are going on to say that the operation will be almost painless; but it will not be painless to me.'

'Then perhaps Mr. Morris will be so good as to step into the next room with me,' said Lady Trevor, rising.

'A capital notion,' cried Sir Richard; 'I'll look in upon you as soon as I have finished my cigar.'

With a little frown, as of disappointment at being deserted by her natural protector-which was really a cunning touch of art, for the whole proceeding had been chalked out by her beforehand-Lady Trevor led the way, while the Agent followed her with his bag.

The apartment in which he found himself was, as he well remembered, used by the late Lady Trevor for transacting her domestic affairs, and had been selected especially as communicating with her

husband's favourite room during her latter days. It had been refurnished, by Sir Richard's orders, in the same simple fashion as of yore; but the little safe, let into the wall, in which his mother was wont to keep her household bills and memoranda, stood in its old place.

Lady Trevor seated herself at the plain oak table, and motioned her companion to a chair.

It were difficult to imagine a greater contrast than the two presented: the woman, the very type of gracefulness and mature beauty, with a touch of scorn upon her lip, unconsciously evoked by the presence of her companion; the man, wary and sagacious as an elephant, with an air of swaggering independence that sat ill upon him, and, ever and anon, when her attention was otherwise engaged, regarding her from under the pent-house of his brows with keen disfavour.

'This reminds me of old times,' said the Agent, still in a conciliatory voice, and looking curiously about him. Your motherin-law often did me the honour to consult me, in this very room, about various household expenses, in which, like Sir Richard, the late baronet took but little interest. I suppose that old safe yonder has not been opened for a quarter of a century?'

'You are mistaken there,' she answered drily. The safe has been opened by Sir Richard, and his finding in it certain accounts has been one of the causes which have induced-nay, I may say, compelled-him to trouble you with this investigation. For example, there are the estimates for the repairs of the Lodge and the fowl-house. In that bag, I conclude, you have the bills for precisely the same work. The sum charged in them I happen to know; but it will be a more frank and open course to compare with you the two accounts.'

'There can be no objection to that, of course, madam; but you must consider, in these and similar cases, the price of labour has immensely increased during the last quarter of a century, and this, of course, involves longer bills.'

'That is not quite the case, I think, Mr. Morris ; for, although wages have considerably increased, the comparative cheapness of material has more than compensated for it.'

'I did not know that political economy was studied by ladies in France,' he answered, in what was intended to be a tone of sarcasm, but was, in truth, only clumsily offensive, like a thrust with a rapier delivered by one accustomed to use a cudgel; but, nevertheless, it had its effect. The bunch of keys that his companion held trembled in her hand. Fortunately, he took for rage what was in reality another emotion. There was something in his words, and in the keen glances that had accompanied them, which made her sick and faint. I am aware that I am not very respectful,' he continued, sullenly apologetic; but it is hard,

after forty years of devotion to the Trevor family, to be accused of cooking their accounts! I am no cheat, madam.'

'I have made no such charge, Mr. Morris,' she answered quietly. Instead of applying ill names to yourself, which nobody else has used, suppose we go into the facts. If you will take out the old accounts of which I spoke, I will get their counterparts out of the safe.'

With that she rose, and, selecting a key from the rest, placed it in the safe-door, and, with a deft turn of her hand, unlocked it. He gazed at her with an amazement that almost amounted to stupefaction. It struck her for a moment that, paralyzed by the sense of his guilt, the Agent might be about to confess all and throw himself upon her mercy.

"This has been rehearsed many times,' he suddenly broke out; 'I could not have thought Sir Richard capable of it."

'What do you mean, Mr. Morris? Once, and once only, my husband, as I have said, took out these documents and then replaced them. I have never touched them!'

'Nor tried to touch them?'

'Certainly not. I do not understand you. Having once seen them, I knew that they were there, and here they are. The bills for the fowl-house and for Mrs. Waite's cottage.'

'For Mrs. Waite's cottage?' repeated the Agent, like one in a dream. 'It doesn't say so in the bill, I notice."

For

'Why should it? It is designated the Lodge; but Mrs. Waite lived there then, I conclude, as she lives there now. the same repairs, you perceive, for which fifty pounds were paid on the last occasion, you have charged no less than a hundred and twenty.'

'There is something wrong,' muttered the Agent, passing his hand over his great forehead, and staring stolidly at his companion.

'I am afraid so,' she answered coldly. And remember these are comparatively small matters. Now supposing that everything else during your stewardship has been charged for in the like proportion as the fowl-house

And Mrs. Waite's cottage,' put in the Agent.

'Well, of course; I am speaking of those two accounts. I say in that case you will have received-improperly-thousands of pounds.'

As she said this, she laid her hand impressively upon the table, and looked him straight in the face.

To her astonishment he returned her gaze with the same intensity, but answered nothing; she had expected an outburst. 'The question now is, Mr. Morris, what course are you going to adopt?'

'Yes, indeed.'

Though evidently much perturbed in mind, he seemed unable to grasp the situation. So serious a charge had, perhaps, deprived him of his senses. His resentment was visible enough, for his face was scarlet; but somehow his indignation appeared to be only skin-deep. There was something else in his thoughts which overlay it.

'It seems to me, Mr. Morris, that there is only one course open to you,' she continued, but of that you are the best judge.' 'I should like to have a little time,' he murmured, breathing hard.

'Do you mean to prepare your defence? That's fair enough; but it is taking for granted that Sir Richard intends to prosecute you. He is disinclined, I know, to adopt that course.

not wish for any exposure.'

He does 'Ah, the very thing I expected!' he exclaimed triumphantly. ""Let sleeping dogs lie" is an excellent proverb.'

'It does not, however, apply to watch-dogs who betray their master' she answered with indignation. 'If you imagine that Sir Richard is afraid of anything you may say or do, you are mistaken, Mr. Morris. It is for your sake, not his own, if he hesitates to employ the law against you. If you can clear self, that is another matter, but otherwise there must be restitution. On that, at least, I am resolved. Take time, by all means, if you need time; but it is but fair to warn you that I know a good deal more of your proceedings than you imagine.'

your

'And not only of my proceedings. Just a word in your ear.' He stood up, leaning on the table with his fingers, and whispered across it in a harsh and hissing tone: For a Frenchwoman who has never been at Mirbridge before, you know too much, my Lady Trevor.'

CHAPTER XXI.

THE UNJUST STEWARD.

LADY TREVOR was a resolute woman; having once put her hand to the plough, no matter how stubborn the soil, she was not one to look back. If right had been upon her side, she would have been a martyr, rather than have succumbed to anyone. But in the matter in which it was but too plain the land agent was so evidently rejoicing, unhappily, the right was not with her. If she had been less conscientious, or more desperate, she would have shown a bolder front to him, but she had no firm ground to stand upon. Moreover, the unexpectedness of the attack-for she had feared no danger from this quarter-and her ignorance of how she had brought it upon herself, threw her into a species of panic.

'Are you mad, Mr. Morris?' she cried, with a pretence of

vehement indignation; but in truth she felt that her wits were leaving her of which, if she lost command for a moment, she knew that all was lost indeed.

'I am not mad, my lady, nor yet drunk,' was the coarse reply, 'but can put two and two together, as well as yourself, who are so quick at figures.'

Then what is it you mean?'

It was a foolish question, and, as she knew directly she had uttered it, one wholly inadequate to the occasion. She ought to have been all indignation and amazement. The proper coursethat is, the course that this man would naturally expect of her -was to go to her husband on the instant, and complain of the impertinence to which she had been subjected. But, incapable as she felt of defending herself, to make Sir Richard a party to the quarrel would have been worse than futile. He would have kicked the man out of doors and 'have done with it,' as he would have himself expressed it, though such a proceeding would have been the beginning of ruin.

'What do I mean, my lady?' repeated the Agent sullenly. 'Well, that's a question that you can answer better than I can, because I have only got hold of the first thread of the skein; but you may take it for granted that I mean to unravel the whole of it. I only know at present that there's something wrong about you.'

She smiled contemptuously, wondering the while what was working in the other's mind, without the knowledge of which she felt that she was fighting the air. Her silence, while it strengthened his growing suspicion, betrayed her thoughts.

'You want me to show my hand, madam; but there is plenty of time for that. Indeed, I don't know what cards I have in it myself, just yet.'

That I can easily believe, indeed,' she put in mockingly, as it seemed to him, but in fact almost hysterically; the tension of her nerves was giving way.

'Well, we shall see,' he answered meaningly; 'but let them laugh who win. You were good enough to say that it was but fair I should take a little time for my defence; perhaps it will be for attack instead. Of this I am well-nigh certain, madam, that you are sailing under false colours.'

That is a matter about which, indeed, you should know something; you have had a long experience of it, Mr. Morris.'

A dusky red overspread the Agent's face, and his huge frame trembled with passion. It is a mistake to suppose that the innocent have the monopoly of what we call an honest indignation; a long course of successful villainy, especially if the wrongdoer has been accustomed to lord it over his betters, breeds a similar sensitiveness to imputation. His companion noted his rising