"I have told you the truth," she answered gravely; "I cannot say any more."
"And the locket—the locket I gave you, which I found on that man's breast?"
"I gave that locket to my sister-in-law, Bessie Lovel. I wished to give her something, poor soul; and I had given Austin all my money. I had so many gifts of yours, Daniel"—that sudden sound of his Christian name sent a thrill through Mr. Granger's veins—"parting with one of them seemed not to matter very much."
There was a pause. They were very near the villa by this time. Mr. Granger felt as if he might never have an opportunity for speaking to his wife again, if he lost his chance now.
"Clarissa," he said earnestly, "if I could forget all that happened in Paris, and put it out of my mind as if it had never been, could you forget it too?"
"With all my heart," she answered.
"Then, my darling, we will begin the world again—we will begin life over again, Clarissa!"
So they went home together reconciled. And Mr. Lovel, looking up from Aimé Martin's edition of Molière, saw that what he had anticipated had come to pass. His policy had proved as successful as it had been judicious. In less than three months Daniel Granger had surrendered. This was what came of Mr. Granger's flying visit to his boy.
* * * * *