major ruck made no remark, but stood silent and motionless, ever smiling, according to his custom. beatrice, on the contrary, uttered an exclamation of surprise, and ran forward to throw herself into vivian's arms. suddenly she stopped.

"do you mean what you say?" she asked, hesitating.

"i do," he replied firmly. "the obstacle i spoke of has finally been removed, and i am free to marry you."

"can i believe this?" murmured beatrice, clasping her hands and looking down doubtfully. "for a long time you held back from asking me to be your wife, although you must have seen that i loved you. on the night mr. alpenny was killed you proposed, and i accepted you."

"ah!" said major ruck, smiling more broadly than ever.

"then," continued beatrice, still addressing paslow, "you again changed your mind, and said that some obstacle, which you then declared was removed, again prevented our marriage. now you come once more and say much the same as you said before. how do i know but what you may change your mind again?"

"i have never changed my mind throughout," cried vivian impetuously; "there was an obstacle. i thought that it was removed, and then i discovered that it still remained: now i have made strict inquiries, and i learn that i am free."

"what is the obstacle?" asked beatrice, very pale, and still doubtful.

"i can tell you that," remarked major ruck, changing his attitude for the first time; "this young gentleman is married."

"i was married," said paslow, as beatrice shrank back with a cry of amazement, and, as vivian thought, of anger; "but my wife is dead."

ruck shrugged his shoulders. "so you say!"

"so durban says--so this death certificate says. i heard all about my wife's illness, as i went to the house where she died. i have seen her grave, and the doctor gave me this." he held out a certificate to beatrice. "do you not believe me?"

"it is so strange," she murmured, taking the paper, and glancing at it in a scared manner.

"and so untrue," said major ruck coolly.

"you lie!"

"i am not accustomed to be told that i lie," said ruck, and his eyes narrowed to pin-points.

paslow turned his back on him contemptuously. "i care very little for that," he said. "you and your creatures betrayed me into difficulties, for which i have suffered bitterly. but now i am free, and you can harm me no longer."

"don't be too sure of that, mr. paslow."

beatrice saw vivian wince, and came forward. "whatever mr. paslow has done," she said, with dignity, "i am certain that he is an honourable man."

"bless you for those words, my darling."

major ruck gave a short laugh, and did not seem so good-tempered as he had been. "an honourable man!" he repeated. "i fear if you knew all mr. paslow's life, you would see fit to change your opinion."

vivian restrained himself from violent words. "of course you talk like that, because it is to your interest to stop my marriage. but i trust to a woman's instinct," and he stretched out his hands toward beatrice with an anxious smile.

she waved him back. "i must have an explanation first"

"beatrice!"

"vivian, i love you, i shall always love you; but can you expect me to blindly believe, when i am so much in the dark as to what all these things mean? there must be an end to these hints and mysteries. if you really love me, you will explain fully, so that i know where i stand."

"i think i can do that," said ruck, fondling his moustache.

"then do so," said paslow, throwing back his head. "we know a great deal of one another, major, so it may be to your interest to speak the truth," and he looked meaningly at the other man.

"i never tell lies, unless they are necessary," said ruck calmly. "in this instance the truth will suit me very well."

beatrice sat down, still holding the certificate of mrs. paslow's death, which seemed to be quite in order. "i am waiting to hear the truth," she said, "and hear it i will."

without any invitation, major ruck sat down. "i may as well be comfortable," he said lazily, and smiled in his most genial manner. vivian did not sit down, but stood near the window looking out at the fair prospect unseeingly. knowing that his past was about to be revealed, he seemed nervous, and did not look at the girl he loved. major ruck was much the coolest of the trio.

"i can tell you the truth very briefly," said ruck, stretching out his legs. "as i said, i was at school with mr. paslow's father, and also with alpenny. some eight years ago this gentleman"--he glanced towards the silent vivian--"came to town. i did what i could to give him pleasure, as his father was dead, and i desired to do what i could for the son of my old friend.--that is true, i think?" he added, turning politely to paslow.

"you were extremely kind," said vivian, stiffly and guardedly.

"thank you. mr. paslow then had money, and i think i showed him london very thoroughly. we had a great time."

"pray go on with your story," said beatrice, icily.

"oh, it's the truth," replied ruck, with a genial chuckle "i think mr. paslow will bear me out in that."

"i have yet to hear what you have to say."

ruck raised his eyebrows. "what can i say, save that which happened, my dear fellow?--mr. paslow"--he now addressed himself to beatrice--"met in town at the house of a friend of mine, a certain young lady called maud ellis. he fell in love with her----"

"i was trapped by a scheming woman, you mean," put in paslow brusquely.

"fie! fie! fie!" said ruck good-humouredly. "don't blame the woman, my dear fellow; that is mean. but trapped, or not, you married her."

"i did; and found that she only married me because she thought that i had money."

"so you should have had, and a great deal of it, but that alpenny managed to collar the estates. but you loved her."

"i did not, save in the way one loves such women at an early age."

"oh!" sneered ruck; "she was perfectly respectable."

"i should not have married her else," said vivian quickly, and not daring to glance at beatrice. "i have nothing to say against her, save that she was heartless, and left me within six months. but i repeat that i was young and foolish at the time, and that she schemed to marry me. i fell into her toils, and bitterly have i had to pay for doing so; but for her i should have long ago have married miss hedge."

"i don't think alpenny would have permitted that, paslow."

"perhaps not; but he is dead, and cannot harm me now."

"the evil that men do lives after them," scoffed ruck. "alpenny had the power when alive; someone else may have the power now."

"not you, at all events, ruck."

beatrice rose quickly. "am i to hear the rest of the story?" she asked ruck. "is this all you have to bring against mr. paslow?--that while a young man he was entrapped into marriage by an adventuress?"

"oh, maud ellis was no adventuress," said the major, easily, "but a very nice girl. lady watson knew her well."

"lady watson seems to know everyone," retorted beatrice; "but who knows lady watson?"

"i do, very well," said ruck quietly; "but we are not discussing her. later on, should you desire to learn about her, i can supply you with all necessary information. meanwhile----"

"meanwhile," repeated beatrice, "i should like to hear what mr. paslow has to say."

"what can i say?" said vivian, with a look of despair. "i married maud ellis, as i said, and she left me after six months of a miserable life. some times since i saw her, but she never would come back to me."

"did you wish her?" said beatrice quickly.

"she was my wife," said vivian calmly, "and i wished to behave as her husband, little as i loved her; but she always refused to come back to me. i met you, and said nothing about my fatal marriage. there was no need to."

"it would have been better had you been open."

"i see that now; i did not see it at the time. but you know that i loved you always, and you know now why i did not dare to ask you to be my wife. a few weeks ago i heard that maud was ill. i went to see her, and found that she was suffering from influenza. i saw her several times: then i heard that she was dead. i proposed to you, beatrice, under the oak. later on, when i went to town to look after your property, and learn if alpenny had done you justice, i again went to the house, and learned that what i had heard was false. maud was extremely ill, but still alive. then i came down, and you know what took place between us. i went again and again to town, and saw the doctor."

"and your wife also?"

"no--yes, once; but she was so ill, and my presence disturbed her so much, that the doctor would not let me see her again. then i went one day, and heard that she was dead and buried."

"why did you not go to the funeral?" asked ruck sneeringly.

"i did not know that she was dead. i remained away from the house--it was in kensington--for a long time, as it was useless for me to go and see her; and the doctor always kept me advised as to how she was going on. however, he gave me no notice of her death, and she was buried when i next heard news."

beatrice expressed surprise. "but surely the doctor was wrong in not telling you she was dying? you should have been with her."

"i should; but the doctor neglected to inform me. i had a row with him about the matter. however, i got the certificate, which you hold, and saw the grave; so i am now free to marry you--that is, if you will have me after what you have heard."

beatrice did not reply immediately to this question. "we can talk of that when we are alone," she said, and glanced towards ruck, who still lounged in his chair.

"that is a hint for me to go," he said, rising lazily. "well, i shall go--unless you will marry me?"

"were you the last man in the world i should not marry you," said the girl quietly; "and i do not see why you wish to."

"we talked about that before," said ruck, taking up his hat; "but now that the real prince charming has come on the scene, i see that there is no chance for me. i will allow you to marry paslow----"

"allow me!" cried miss hedge indignantly. "allow me!" echoed vivian, clenching his fists.

"i will allow you," repeated the major smoothly, "on condition that you give me the obi necklace."

"what?" asked beatrice, starting back, "colonel hall's----"

"it was his property. i knew him very well," interrupted ruck. "he gave that necklace to mrs. hedge."

"to my mother? impossible! the necklace was stolen when colonel hall was murdered in this very house."

"so it was thought, but i know otherwise. colonel hall gave the necklace to mrs. hedge, who was his cousin, just before the murder. i learned that from alpenny, who was in the house at the time; and that was why alpenny married mrs. hedge--he wanted the necklace. and that is why i wished to marry you," added ruck, smiling blandly, "as i want the necklace. it is valued at ten thousand pounds, and alpenny promised to give it to you when we married."

"i don't know how much of this is true, or how much is not," said beatrice, looking puzzled, and pressing her hands to her head; "but i have not got the necklace. i never knew that my stepfather had it. there is no need for you to get angry, major ruck. i know nothing about the necklace save what i heard from mrs. lilly; and she told me that colonel hall was murdered, and the necklace was stolen."

"the necklace was given to mrs. hedge," said ruck, who was now very angry, "and alpenny promised to give it to you. if you give it to me, i will go out of your life and you can marry paslow; if not, i can stop this marriage."

"i defy you to do your worst," said paslow savagely.

"don't do that; it might be dangerous," said ruck, with a meaning look. "well, miss hedge?" he turned to beatrice.

"i know nothing about the necklace," she replied. "if you married me you would marry a pauper. lady watson has mr. alpenny's money; and if he did receive the necklace from my mother, he certainly never gave it to me, or even spoke of its existence."

ruck turned pale and looked at the ground. "can lady watson have secured it?" he muttered.

"you had better ask her. and now, major ruck, that i know your real reason for wishing to marry me, i may tell you that i would willingly have given the obi necklace to escape such a match!" and she turned her back on him scornfully.

the major, notwithstanding that he was in the house, and in the presence of a lady, put on his hat. he had quite lost his suave manners, and looked thoroughly angry. "i shall take my leave, miss hedge," he said, bowing ironically. "marry paslow whenever you choose; he is free now, as he says; but if trouble comes of your marriage, do not say that i did not warn you."

"what trouble can come?" asked beatrice, turning like a lioness.

"don't say that you have not been warned," said ruck, backing towards the door. "as to myself, i shall search for the necklace, and get it. lady watson may know of its whereabouts.--paslow, i congratulate you on a possible marriage----"

"you cannot stop it, ruck," said vivian coolly.

"oh, i have no desire to do so. all i wanted from this lady was the obi necklace. as she has not got it, there is no need for me to sacrifice my freedom. miss hedge, good-day; paslow, good-day;" and with a bow, the major took his gigantic figure out of the room.

the two young people looked at one another in silence. "what does it all mean?" asked beatrice helplessly.

"you heard what ruck said," answered vivian. "he wanted to marry you for the necklace. as you have not got it, he will trouble you no more."

"in any case, he would not trouble me," cried beatrice indignantly. "does major ruck think me a child to be driven into a match about which i care nothing? what influence can he have to make me do what he wanted?"

"he was playing a game of bluff," said vivian eagerly. "he cannot force you to marry him, nor can he stop my marriage. he could have done so before, because he knew that my wife was alive; but now that she is dead, his power ceases. and, beatrice"--he paused and looked down--"how can i ask you to be my wife after what you have heard?"

the girl looked at him in silence. had she loved him less, she might have refused to answer his appeal. as it was, her love overcame the momentary anger which she felt at having been kept in the dark. at once she moved towards him, and placed her arms round his neck.

"we are all sinners," she whispered; "and i love you too well to let you go."

"god bless you, my darling," faltered vivian, pressing her to his breast.

"let the past alone," said beatrice, kissing him. "we shall marry, and live for one another. look with me, vivian, to a happy future."

"my darling--my darling!" and paslow fell on his knees.