"Oh, yes, yes," Mary cried. "Oh, I can read between the lines of your parable. I am the girl and you are the man who has brought me to my senses. Ralph, it sounds like a fairy story. And so you took this means of opening my eyes, and showing me how small and narrow my world was. Forgive you? Could you ever forgive me? And to think that you are the son of Ralph Dashwood come back after all these years. And to think that Lady Dashwood should know and not tell me. Marvellous!"
"I bound her to secrecy," Ralph explained. "And, really, things fell out wonderfully for me. There was the incident of the fire and that matchbox, for instance; the incident that forced the impostor Speed to declare himself. For, of course, you have guessed who the man who called himself Sir Vincent Dashwood really was. I suppose we shall never hear who it was who tried to set the Hall on fire."
Mary laughed happily through her tears.
"And you never found that out?" she said. "Why, I knew at once. And I was horribly afraid lest the person should be found out and severely punished. Do you recollect the night that those men took possession of the Hall, the night when you tried to save me from Mayfield? Old Patience was there. It was one of her lucid nights when she possessed her full intelligence. And she kept on crying for somebody to smoke the rats out, for somebody who had courage to put the match to the faggot. I found her quite late, and took her to sleep for the night in my dressing-room. And when you came to save me, Patience had vanished. I never had the slightest doubt who set the Hall on fire, and I hope that you will not mention this to anybody, Ralph. Patience has quite forgotten it. I alluded to the subject only yesterday, and she expressed her indignation."
"Well, that is the last of the mysteries cleared," Ralph said. "I suppose the poor creature found that matchbox somewhere. The next thing is to proclaim myself, and then, Mary, you can come back to the Hall as mistress again."
"What happiness!" Mary whispered. "But a different kind of happiness to the old. I shall hope a little later to see the old Hall a different place to what it has ever been before. I should like to build a charming house close by for the benefit of girls like my friends Connie and Grace. I owe them more than I can ever repay; indeed, I owe humanity in general a deep debt of gratitude. You will let me have my own way over this, Ralph, for I have set my heart on it."
"It shall be as you say, darling," Ralph whispered, as he kissed the red lips tenderly. "For the honour of the house, for now and evermore."