"We know enough about Mercy Merrick already." "Pardon me--your ladyship does _not_ know.

I am the only person who can inform you." "You ?" She bent her head respectfully.
"I have begged you, Lady Janet, to give me half an hour," she went on.
"In half an hour I solemnly engage myself to produce Mercy Merrick in this room.

Lady Janet Roy, Mr.Horace Holmcroft, you are to wait for that." Steadily pledging herself in those terms to make her confession, she unclasped the pearls from her neck, put them away in their cases and placed it in Horace's hand.

"Keep it," she said, with a momentary faltering in her voice, "until we meet again." Horace took the case in silence; he looked and acted like a man whose mind was paralyzed by surprise.

His hand moved mechanically.