"Does that mean Rebb is guilty?" Tod asked Arnold.
"I always said that he was," rejoined the ex-tutor dryly, and later the two retired to their several couches to ponder over the new problem.
The bride and bridegroom duly arrived the next day. Tod was slightly uneasy, since Geary had probably told the Major, and that gentleman would undoubtedly, for his own safety, take steps to have Mrs. Haskins arrested. However, Geary had probably not delivered the message that Mavis was alive, for no officer of the law appeared to break the joy of the meeting. Mavis looked slightly pale, but her courage was high, and she evidently determined to go bravely through the ordeal. United to her adored Prince Gerald, she was ready to face anyone and anything by his side.
After greetings and explanations and a hurried meal the whole party drove over to Leegarth in a landau for the momentous meeting. As the carriage passed through the village Mavis kept her veil down, so she was not recognized. The gates of the Pixy's House, marvelous to relate, were open, and the carriage drove up to the house. Major Rebb with two ladies was on the terrace. Mavis alighted and raised her veil.
"Great heavens!" cried Rebb, pale with terror. "Mavis Durham!"
"Mrs. Gerald Haskins," she replied proudly, "and I come for my money."
[CHAPTER XXV.]
GEARY'S ACCUSATION.
It would be hard to say who was the palest and most terror-stricken of the trio who stood on the terrace. Mrs. Crosbie clung to her stern mother with dilated eyes, shaking like a reed: but Mrs. Berch, although stern and unmoved--outwardly at least--was also pallid. As for Rebb, he leaned against the balustrade of the terrace scarcely able to speak. Before him stood Tod and Arnold, Gerald Haskins and the girl whom he had treated so cruelly--the girl whom he had believed until now was at the bottom of some rural stream. The hour of retribution had come, and in a flash the guilty man saw everything he possessed reft from him--saw also the structure of crime and falsehood he had reared crumble into dust. His worst enemy would have pitied the Major in that hour of agony.
"You!" he faltered, staring at Mavis, as though she were indeed the ghost he almost believed her to be. "You!"