visited--I have heard about. She is somewhat notorious, is she not?"

He was very quiet, pale to the lips. A strange, hunted expression had
crept into his eyes.

"I want to know what took you there. Am I asking too much? Remember that
you have asked me a good deal."

"Has Borrowdean anything to do with this?" he demanded.

"I have known Sir Leslie Borrowdean for many years," she answered, "and
it is quite true that we have discussed certain matters--concerning you."

"You have known Sir Leslie Borrowdean for many years," he repeated. "Yet
you met here as strangers."

"Sir Leslie divined my wishes," she answered. "He knew that it was my
wish to spend several months away from everybody, and, if possible,
unrecognized. Perhaps I had better make my confession at once. My name
is not Mrs. Handsell. I am the Duchess of Lenchester."

Mannering stood as though turned to stone. The woman watched him eagerly.
She waited for him to speak--in vain. A sudden mist of tears blinded her.
She closed her eyes. When she opened them Mannering was gone.




CHAPTER V