whether he had received the telegram himself. Barrymore said that he had.

Did the boy deliver it into your own hands? asked Sir Henry.

Barrymore looked surprised, and considered for a little time.

No, said he, I was in the box-room at the time, and my wife brought it up to me.

Did you answer it yourself?

No; I told my wife what to answer and she went down to write it.

In the evening he recurred to the subject of his own accord.

I could not quite understand the object of your questions this morning, Sir Henry, said he. I trust that they do not mean that I have done anything to forfeit your confidence?

Sir Henry had to assure him that it was not so and pacify him by giving him a considerable part of his old wardrobe, the London outfit having now all arrived.

Mrs. Barrymore is of interest to me. She is a heavy, solid person, very limited, intensely respectable, and inclined to be puritanical. You could hardly conceive a less emotional subject. Yet I have told you how, on the first night here, I heard her sobbing bitterly, and since then I have more than once observed traces of tears upon her face. Some deep sorrow gnaws ever at her heart. Sometimes I wonder if she has a guilty memory which haunts her, and sometimes I suspect Barrymore of being a domestic tyrant. I have always felt that there was something singular and questionable in this man's character, but the adventure of last night brings all my suspicions to a head.