As he looked upon the change his words had wrought, filled with wonder and compunction, Cleggett suddenly divined that her occasional flashes of gayety had been, all along, merely the forced vivacity of a brave and clever woman who was making a gallant fight against total collapse.
"Mr.Cleggett," she said, in a voice that was scarcely louder than a whisper, "I am going to confide everything to you--the whole truth.

I will spare myself nothing; I will throw myself upon your mercy.
"I firmly believe, Mr.Cleggett--I am practically certain--that the box there, upon which Elmer is sitting, contains the body of Reginald Maltravers, natural son of the tenth Earl of Claiborne, and the cousin of my late husband, Sir Archibald Fairhaven.".