“I, too, lost my mother when young, and that circumstance enables me to feel for you.”

Her tender eyes thrill him as he never yet has been touched; the bond of sympathy is akin to love; he has never had a confidant, and human nature yearns to unbosom itself.

“I promised to tell you the story, Lady Ruth.  If I were sure we would not be interrupted, I would be inclined to speak now, for I am about starting upon a mission, the result of which Heaven alone can foresee.”

His earnestness impresses her ladyship; trust a bright girl for bridging over a trifling difficulty such as this.

“There is a little private parlor attached and generally empty,” she suggests, artlessly.

“Just the ticket,” he boldly exclaims.

In a few minutes they are seated alone in this bijou parlor; its decorations are quaint, even barbaric in their splendor, and a lover of the bizarre would happen upon such a scene with the keenest of pleasure.

“Here are some drawings we can be looking over,” she suggests, and he nods eagerly, inwardly blessing her ready sagacity.

Thus they look harmless enough.

“Now I will play the lady confessor.  What is it all about?  Have you fallen into debt like a bad boy, and don’t dare write the pater?”

He looks at her and laughs.

“You see the comical side of everything, Lady Ruth.  This I fear bids fair to be a tragedy.”

“A tragedy!  Dear me, didn’t we have quite enough of that this afternoon?  What can it be?  Surely, you and the colonel—­” and she colors furiously upon realizing how near she has come to betraying her thoughts.

“The colonel and I have had no words, as yet, Lady Ruth.  This affair is something that concerns my past.  Let me briefly tell you a few facts that are of especial interest to me, and may claim your attention.

“I told you I had not seen my mother since I was a child, yet she is not dead.  An unfortunate affair happened, and she was exiled from home.  Heaven knows I have ever believed her innocent.

“On several occasions, unbeknown to my stern father, I have received a line without a signature, a line that called down Heaven’s blessings on my head, a line that caused me to cry like a baby.

“Thus year by year my resolve became stronger; I would find my mother, I would seek the solution of the dreadful mystery that hangs over the Craig home.

“My studies were done; I graduated at the head of the medical class and spent a year under the most eminent professors at Heidelberg.  When they gave me my diploma, they wrote my father that I ought to have a year of travel to improve my health before entering upon the life work to which I am devoted.

“Of course my desire was granted, and I began the search.  I have been six months at it without success; it is like pursuing an ignis fatuus.  A clew would take me to Russia, whence I would fly to Persia, then to Turkey, and next to London.  In Paris I felt sure of success, but the lady I was tracking turned out to be a grandmother, and there was a lively scene in her house when I sprung my game.