"I fancied I had made a discovery," she said. "It occurred to me perhaps——. But don't let us talk about myself. Has anything happened here?"
"Much," Ralph cried. "Great things. The mystery is solved."
"Solved?" Marion gasped. "You have found the culprit?"
"The culprit is in the house. She is Mrs. May. I prefer to call her Princess Zara; and yet again I might call her Mrs. Ravenspur, wife of the late Jasper Ravenspur. Marion, we have found your mother."
Marion said nothing. Her head had fallen forward and she sat swaying in her chair. There was a hard yet pleading look in her eyes. Ralph bent down and drew her none too tenderly to her feet.
"The she-wolf is yonder, the cub is here," he cried. "Are you going to speak or shall I tell the story? Speak, or let me do so." Ravenspur sprang forward angrily.
"What are you doing?" he cried. "To lay hand on that angel——"
"Ay," said Ralph, "an angel truly, but a fallen one—Lucifer in the dust."