208 
tee laei ^ floral cabinet. 
ture what the aJOSnity was that existed between ns 
young wife and these people, even to the extent of r® 
dering her unfit for all her home duties. She saw ® 
hesitation, almost amounting to displeasure, and tlue'^ 
herself into his arms with a sudden outburst of affec¬ 
tion. j 
“Arnold, dear, grant me this request—do, theres a 
darling, Arnold—^if you don’t, I shall be compelled 1° 
go off to the Continent myself in search of Blanche. 
“ You, Winifred! You must be quite mad !” 
“ O no. I am not in the least mad, only I have a tei- 
rible secret to keep, and the keeping it nearly makes me 
mad. Arnold dear. O, how I wish I could tell you all 
about it!” 
“A secret in connection with the Wodehouses?” 
“Yes; and you will let Blanche come, w-ill you not? 
“ I do not object to yom' having Blanche Wodehouse 
to stay for a little wlifie, if her coming is at all likely to 
remove the incubus which has lain over you of late.” 
“ It will, indeed it will, at least I hope so. 0 you 
dear old darling, you are much kinder to your little 
wife than she deserves, though she is not such a bad 
little woman as I kno\v you have been thinking her of 
late.” 
“ Now let us to bed,” he said, “ or you will look so 
jaded to-morrow, you will no longer merit the name of 
my pretty Winnie.” 
To bed for Arnold Moreton was not to sleep. He was 
perplexed beyond everything to imagine what this ex¬ 
traordinary secret could be which had so changed Win¬ 
nie. That the fiowers iu that conservatory had some¬ 
thing to do with it, he felt sure : but turn the matter in 
his mind how he might, he could make nothing of it; 
and after thinking it over in all its varied phases for 
hours, he decided that it was perhaps as well he had 
giren permission for an invitation to be sent to Blanche 
Wodehouse, since her presence in the house might 
throw some light on the matter. 
At last Mr. Moreton fell asleep, to awake after a 
while ^vith the sort of nightmarish conriction that some 
one had arrived, and that this some one was Miss 
Blanche Wodehouse. It was eight o’clock, and the sun 
was streaming gladly into the room. He was not 
dreaming then, and it was actually the voice of the 
butler outside the door, informing him that a young 
lady in deep mourning had arrived from aWad, 
and wanted to see Mrs. Moreton immediately. Of 
course it was Blanche Wodehouse, and of course Win¬ 
nie, m her dressing-gown, rushed off without further 
delay to receive her; and “ most extraordinary,” mut¬ 
tered Arnold, as he peeped over the staircase to see 
them meet, “they have actually gone into the con¬ 
servatory and locked the door.” He went into his 
dressing-room to perfoi-m his morning toilette, with a sort 
of desperate resolution to give up all attempt at guess- 
• ing the very difficult conundrum that had been pre¬ 
sented to him. He did not hiuTy himseK in the least; 
having resolved to give the matter up, he wrapped him¬ 
self in a sort of gloomy resignation. 
Qiiite an hour later, when he came out of his room 
thinking that, if possible, he would get a little break¬ 
fast, and go straight to his office out of the way, he met 
Winnie at the door. She had dressed very quickly, and 
appeai-ed in the freshest and prettiest of morning 
dresses, a glac( smile on her lovely face, an open letter 
in her hand. 
“0 you great, dear, naughty Arnold, you look as 
grave as if you had the weight of the whole world on 
your shouldem!” 
The cloud pai-tly passed from his brow when he 
the changed look on her face, and he held out his hand 
for the letter. 
It was the same that had been attached to the largest 
of Mra. Wodehouso’s flower-pots. Witli no small aston.. 
ishment Arnold read as follows : 
“Forgive, me, my dearest friend, for the subterfun-t, 
to which I am compelled to liave recourse; for the trust 
and responsibihty with wliich, without even during pre- 
riously to ask permission, I am about to burden you 
Sooner or later you must know the sad secret of mv 
life : my husband is a confirmed and desperate gambler 
This fatal passion has gradually made our whole life 
one miserable acted lie. It was necessary to keep up 
appearances, in order to .avoid suspicion and retain his 
business credit. The more deeply we s.ank in debt the 
more wildly ho sought to retrieve liis fortunes at the 
gaming-tiib'ie. Heaven only knows how soon and des¬ 
perately this m.ay end. My own little fortune, which 
by the ctdpable carelessness of my guardian was left in 
his power, has been dissipated. The only thing left for 
me and my poor daughter wlien the crash comes, as 
come it must, is the handsojne parure of diamonds I 
inherited Horn my mother. These ai'e indeed, by every 
right, mj- own ; but already my infatuated husband has 
his eye on them, and I dread lest any moment they may 
be gambled away. For my child’s sake, I entreat you 
help me to save them. They may some day realize a 
sum wliich to her will be invaluable. Deep down in 
the mold of the flower-pots you will find them buried.. 
There, for the present, let thetn remain ; keep them till 
a dav comes when I or my daughter may reclaim them. 
Do not betray my secret even to your husband. I tinst 
entirely to your goodness and your loyalty. 
“ Your unhappy friend, 
“Marian Wodehouse.” 
“ So,” exclaimed Arnold, putting his aim around his; 
wife, “tliis is the teirible secret, little woman, winch 
has been wearing yom- life away, I do not feel obliged 
to Ml'S. Wodehouse for not letting you confide in mo.” 
“ O Arnold dear, poor Mrs. Wodehouse, she is dead.” 
He shrugged his shoulders and followed Winnie down- 
Stan'S into the conservatorj', where they found Blanche, 
a rather sad-looking, tearful beauty of seventeen,whom 
Winnie’s brother. Captain Verschoyle, was not alto¬ 
gether quite unsuccessfully seeking to console as they 
stood together taking the plants out of the flower-pots 
and shaking the diamonds from their roots. 
Arnold looked at Winnie, and smiled as he saw the 
picture; perhaps he had a sort of vision of a mati'i- 
monial pendant. A few minutes later they all four 
went down to breakfast together, Blanche’s dot lying 
before them in lustrous beauty on the white cloth. 
Mr. Moreton being a busy man.,Captain Verschoyle 
undertook the sale of tlie jewels ; but though he was al¬ 
ways on ijie point of clinching a good offer,somehow or 
other he never quite achieved it, and already Blanche 
Wodehouse had been nearly a month under the More- 
ton’s hospitable roof, when she rushed into Wiimie’s 
conservatory one morning—now, since the finding of 
the diamonds, become once more the young wife’s play¬ 
thing— and threw herself into her arms. 
“ O Winifred, he has asked me to marry liim, and 
says I am not to sell the diamonds after all, as he has 
quite enough money for us both.” 
“ My dear Blanche, I am so very glad. You '«vill 
naake the sweetest, dearest little‘sister-in-law; Only 
fancy a marriage arising out of ray building a conserva¬ 
tory, and then having, as Dr. Jones says, ‘diamonds on 
the brain Jeon Middlemass. 
