to death by their means--your father in particular was relentless
in his efforts to hunt down and spy out miserable victims--that
when the Queen was known to be dead, and her successor and
Protestant sister had been proclaimed in London, the Trevlyns felt
that they had cause to tremble for their own safety. They had
stirred up relentless enmity by their own relentless conduct, and
the sudden turn in fortune's wheel had given these enemies the
upper hand."

"Ah!" breathed Cuthbert, "I begin to see."

"The Trevlyns had not served the Bloody Queen and her minions
without reward," continued Kate, with flashing eyes; "they had
heaped together no small treasure whilst this traffic in treachery
had been going on, and in many cases the valuables of the victims
they had betrayed to death had passed into the keeping of the
betrayer.

"Oh, it is a detestable thing to think of!" cried the girl,
stamping her foot. "No wonder the judgment of God fell upon that
unhallowed treasure, and that it was taken from its possessors! No
wonder it was doomed to lie hidden away till those who had gotten
it had passed to their last account, and could never enjoy the
ill-gotten gain. And they were punished too--ay, they were well
punished. They were fined terrible sums; they had to give back sums
equal to the spoil they had filched from others. Thy father, as
thou knowest, was ruined; and we still feel that pinch of poverty
that will be slow to depart altogether from our house. Yet it
serves us right--it serves us right! It is meet that the children
should suffer for the sins of their parents. I have not complained,