The old man, Jabez Clyne, I think moderately well of; he is a weak fool under the thumb of his daughter.

If you only knew what I have suffered at the hands of that golden-haired doll!" "I should think you could hold your own, Miss Vrain." "Not against treachery and lies!" retorted Diana fiercely.

"It is not my habit to employ such weapons, but my stepmother used no others.

It was she who drove me out of the house and made me exile myself to the Antipodes to escape her falseness.

And it was she," added Miss Vrain solemnly, "who treated my father so ill as to drive him out of his own home.