CHAPTER XVII.

CONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE. Margaret soon went to her own apartment and changed her damp garments, and then she went down stairs to the echoing reception-room, to wait for Lady Juliana Ducie. At last came the sound of carriage wheels, the great door was opened, and a gentle stir ensued in the lower hall. Margaret rang the bell, and waited in feverish suspense to hear the issue. "Who has arrived?" she asked, as the housekeeper appeared, arrayed in stiff black satin. "The lady you were expecting, miss, I take it, with a lad…