I was a fool for not acting at once;--a double fool for suspecting her! Ass that I was, to take up with a false scent, and throw myself off the true one! My everlasting unbelief in people has punished itself this time.

I might have got a search-warrant three months ago, and had that old witch safe in the bilboes.

But no--I might not have found it, after all, and there would have been only an esclandre; and if I know that girl's heart, she would have been ten times more miserable for her mother than for herself, so it's as well as it is.

Besides, it's really good fun to watch how such a pretty plot will work itself out;--as good as a pack of harriers with a cold scent and a squatted hare.

So, live and let live.