"How did he become acquainted with you?"
Jane giggled and looked down. "Well, sir," she said, blushing, "I am not bad-looking and Bernard—"
"He called himself Bernard?"
"Yes, sir. He said he was a corporal in the Imperial Yeomanry. He had seen me in Crimea Square."
"In this house?"
"No, sir. Leaving the house. He said he had come several times, being taken with my looks, and that he always wanted to know me. As he was so handsome, sir, and spoke so civil, we walked out. He treated me to tea in the Park, and then I asked him to meet cook. He accepted at once, sir, and most willingly."
"I daresay," muttered Durham, seeing in this meeting how the scamp had forced his company on the girl so as to enter the house likely to be occupied by Sir Simon. "And he came?"
"Many times, sir—oh! many times, and made himself so agreeable that cook was quite jealous."
"Who did he say he was?"
"Well, sir, he did nothing but hint, saying he was a gentleman of high rank, as could be seen from his manners, and that he had enlisted because of a quarrel he had with his grandfather. But I never knew he was Sir Simon's grandson until I lost him," sobbed Jane. "Oh, dear me, and to think I would have been Lady Gore, with diamonds and fine clothes, had he lived."