It was this that broke his obstinate silence, and made him tell his
secret to me. And here, Leon Dudleigh, is a thing in which you are
concerned.

"I!" exclaimed Leon, in astonishment, not unmingled with alarm.

"I will tell you presently. I will simply remark now that I am
following out his wishes, and am working for Miss Dalton, as he himself
would have worked, to redeem her name."

"The name is hers no longer," said Leon.

"She seems to give you a precious hard time of it too, I should say, and
does not altogether appreciate your self-denying and wonderfully
disinterested efforts."

"I have not treated her with sufficient consideration," said Wiggins. "I
misunderstood her character. I began altogether wrong. I see now that
I ought to have given her more of my confidence, or, better yet, that I
ought not to have brought her here till the work was done. Well," he
added, with a sigh, "my chief consolation is that it will be all right
in the end."

"This is all rubbish," said Leon. "You are not what you pretend to be.
You are not her guardian. You are an interloper and a swindler. You
shall remain here no longer. I am her husband, and I order you off the
premises at once."

"You are not her husband, and I am her guardian," said Wiggins, calmly.
"I was appointed by her father on his death-bed."