What I felt it my duty to do in this serious matter, I determined
to do at once. Besides, let me honestly own that I felt lonely
and desolate, oppressed by the critical situation in which I was
placed, and eager for the relief that it would be to me only to
hear the sound of Michael's voice. I sent my maid to say that I
wished to speak to him immediately. The crisis was already
hanging over my head. That one act brought it down.

XI.

He came in, and stood modestly waiting at the door.

After making him take a chair, I began by saying that I had
received his message, and that, acting on my uncle's advice, I
must abstain from interfering in the question of his leaving, or
not leaving, his place. Having in this way established a reason
for sending for him, I alluded next to the loss that he had
sustained, and asked if he had any prospect of finding out the
person who had entered his room in his absence. On his reply in
the negative, I spoke of the serious results to him of the act of
destruction that had been committed. "Your last chance of
discovering your parents," I said, "has been cruelly destroyed."

He smiled sadly. "You know already, miss, that I never expected
to discover them."

I ventured a little nearer to the object I had in view.

"Do you never think of your mother?" I asked. "At your age, she