Then resuming their disguises they took leave.

"To-morrow, then," said Colville, as they descended the steps, speaking thoughtlessly aloud. "To-morrow we shall return, and with the worthy priest's a.s.sistance, I shall bear away my unwilling bride."

"Hush! do not speak so loud," said Doctor Pratt, cautiously. "The very stones have ears."

They sprang into their carriage and drove rapidly away.

Then a dark form that had been crouching beneath the steps came out and straightened its cramped limbs.

"To-morrow," he repeated, with a low, exultant laugh. "To-morrow! Ah!

what a happy day to-morrow will be to some sorrowing hearts that I know of. Take courage, sweet Lily Lawrence! To-morrow shall see you restored to the arms of your father and your lover! Let me see--to-morrow is the twenty-fourth of December. What a triumphant Christmas eve it will be for me!"

He walked on some distance to where he had secured his horse, and mounting him in haste, rode away full of plans for his next day's happy mission to sorrowing hearts.

CHAPTER x.x.xVI.

It was the twenty-fourth of December and Mr. Lawrence sat alone in his elegant office at the bank, musing sadly before the glowing fire in the grate.

The banker looked worn and sad, and now and then a heavy sigh parted his well-cut lips, and a dimness crept over his fine blue eyes.

He was thinking of his beautiful elder daughter whose tragic death had well-nigh broken his fatherly heart.

He brushed his handkerchief across his eyes and sighed heavily.

There was a knock at the door and a clerk entered with Mr. Shelton's card.

"Ah!" said Mr. Lawrence. "Show the gentleman in, Mr. Styles."

Mr. Shelton entered with suppressed excitement beaming from every feature. His greeting ceremonies were brief and hurried.

"Mr. Lawrence," he said directly, "I have a carriage in waiting outside.

Will you do me the honor to ride several miles with me this morning?"

"You have made some important discovery?" exclaimed Mr. Lawrence, rising excitedly.

"Yes," answered the detective, "but I cannot explain until we are on our way. We have not a minute to spare!"

They hurried out and took their places in the carriage.

"Driver, you have your directions," said the detective to the man on the box. "Do not forget. Drive fast and overtake the other carriage if possible--if not, try and get within sight of it at least."

"Is there another carriage?" inquired the banker, bewildered.

"Yes," said Mr. Shelton. "I have sent a carriage ahead of us containing four policemen, and they are secretly following another carriage. The first carriage contains Doctor Pratt, Harold Colville, and a priest.

They are on the way to the place where the body of your daughter is concealed, and we are on our way to secure and arrest them."

"You are perfectly certain, I hope," said Mr. Lawrence, trembling with excitement.

"Yes, success is a.s.sured," said Mr. Shelton, with a ring of triumph in his clear tone.

"Thank G.o.d!" exclaimed the banker fervently. "At last my poor Lily's desecrated corpse may rest in a fitting sanctuary."

He leaned over and wrung the detective's hand gratefully.

"G.o.d bless you, my friend, for the patience and perseverance that have brought this result at last," he said.

The detective was deeply moved by the emotion of the elder man.

"Mr. Lawrence," said he, bending forward and speaking in low, impressive tones, "prepare yourself for a wonderful revelation! Are you strong enough to bear tidings of great joy?"

"What do you mean, Mr. Shelton?" inquired the banker with a start.

"Alas! what joyful tidings can come to me, broken-hearted as I am at the loss of my daughter?"

The detective leaned forward and laid his hand on the banker's arm.

"Mr. Lawrence," he said, in a voice that vibrated with feeling, "it is not the corpse of your daughter that I am about to restore to the desecrated vault, but the _living_, beautiful Lily that will be given back to your heart and your home!"

Mr. Lawrence fell back against the cushion of the carriage like one stricken with death, so great was the shock of the detective's revelation. Mr. Shelton took a small flask from his pocket, and forced some wine between his white and gasping lips.

"I feared these joyful tidings would unnerve you," said he, gently.

"Calm yourself, my dear sir. Your daughter, whom you have mourned as dead, yet lives. It was her own living self that you saw in your hall that night, not her spirit!"

"Oh! G.o.d be thanked! Lily lives!" repeated the banker in a low voice of ecstasy.

Shelton put his head out of the carriage window a moment.

"We have caught up with the officers' hack," said he. "Now we are all right. Driver, just keep on at your present pace. We do not need to go faster."

"Every moment seems an hour," exclaimed the banker, in a fever of anxiety and impatience. "Oh, to think that my darling lives! And yet, oh, G.o.d! what would be her feelings on learning that her betrothed will wed another to-night!"

"Do not distress yourself about that marriage, Mr. Lawrence," answered the detective. "I a.s.sure you it shall never be consummated."

"Ah! you think she will generously yield him to Lily when she finds that she is still living?" said the banker; "but you do not know Mrs. Vance.

Nothing would induce her to release her victim from the toils she has wound about him."

"Perhaps I know more of Mrs. Vance than you suppose," said Mr. Shelton.

"For instance, Mr. Lawrence, you believe that your daughter committed suicide--do you not?"

"It was the jury's verdict," said the banker.

"Mr. Lawrence, your daughter was as happy and as much in love with life as you believed her to be. She never attempted to commit suicide," said the detective, firmly.

"She did not? Then who--what--?" began the banker, in a maze of bewilderment.

"The dagger that pierced her innocent breast was driven home by the murderous hand of Mrs. Vance!" was the reply.