"What was your husband's trouble, Mrs.
Dornham ?" "He committed a burglary, sir; and, as he had been convicted before, his sentence was a heavy one." "And my daughter, you say, is living, but not well?
Where is she ?" "I will take you to her, sir," was the reply--"at once, if you will go." "I will not lose a minute," said the earl, hastily.

"It is time, Mrs.
Dornham, that you knew my name, and my daughter's also.

I am the Earl of Mountdean, and she is Lady Madaline Charlewood." On hearing this, Margaret Dornham was more frightened than ever.

She rose from her knees and stood before him.
"If I have done wrong, my lord," she said, "I beg of you to pardon me--it was all, as I thought, for the best.

So the child whom I have loved and cherished was a grand lady after all ?" "Do not let us lose a moment," he said.