"Concerning whom ?" "Mrs.Sheppard," replied Jonathan, mysteriously.
"Mrs.Sheppard!" echoed Jack, surprised out of his caution.
"Ah!" exclaimed Wild, looking angrily towards his supposed attendant.
"I beg pardon, Sir," replied Jack, with the accent and manner of the janizary; "I was betrayed into the exclamation by my surprise that anything in which Sir Rowland Trenchard was interested could have reference to so humble a person as Mrs.Sheppard." "Be pleased, then, in future not to let your surprise find vent in words," rejoined Jonathan, sternly.

"My servants, like Eastern mutes, must have eyes, and ears,--and _hands_, if need be,--but no tongues.

You understand me, sirrah ?" "Perfectly," replied Jack.

"I'm dumb." "Your secret ?" demanded Trenchard, impatiently.
"I need not remind you, Sir Rowland," replied Wild, "that you had two sisters--Aliva and Constance." "Both are dead," observed the knight, gloomily.
"Not so;" answered Wild.

"Constance is yet living." "Constance alive?
Impossible!" ejaculated Trenchard.
"I've proofs to the contrary," replied Jonathan.
"If this is the case, where is she ?" "In Bedlam," replied the thief-taker, with a Satanic grin.
"Gracious Heaven!" exclaimed the knight, upon whom a light seemed suddenly to break.