I laughed at Tom Herbert,"
continued Mr. Carlyle; "turned his report into ridicule also, before I
had done with him."

"Will it be the means of causing Richard's detection?" murmured Mrs.
Hare from between her dry lips.

"No, no," warmly responded Mr. Carlyle. "Had the report arisen
immediately after he was really here, it might not have been so
pleasant; but nearly two years have elapsed since the period. Be under
no uneasiness, dear Mrs. Hare, for rely upon it there is no cause."

"But how _could_ it have come out, Archibald?" she urged, "and at this
distant period of time?"

"I assure you I am quite at a loss to imagine. Had anybody at West Lynne
seen and recognized Richard, they would have spoken of it at the time.
Do not let it trouble you; the rumor will die away."

Mrs. Hare sighed deeply, and left the room to proceed to her own
chamber. Barbara and Mr. Carlyle were alone.

"Oh, that the real murderer could be discovered!" she aspirated,
clasping her hands. "To be subjected to these shocks of fear is
dreadful. Mamma will not be herself for days to come."

"I wish the right man could be found; but it seems as far off as ever,"
remarked Mr. Carlyle.

Barbara sat ruminating. It seemed that she would say something to Mr.
Carlyle, but a feeling caused her to hesitate. When she did at length
speak, it was in a low, timid voice.

"You remember the description Richard gave, that last night, of the
person he had met--the true Thorn?"

"Yes."

"Did it strike you then--has it ever occurred to you to think--that it
accorded with some one?"

"In what way, Barbara?" he asked, after a pause. "It accorded with the
description Richard always gave of the man Thorn."

"Richard spoke of the peculiar movement of throwing off the hair from
the forehead--in this way. Did that strike you as being familiar, in
connection with the white hand and the diamond ring?"

"Many have a habit of pushing off their hair--I think I do it myself
sometimes. Barbara, what do you mean? Have you a suspicion of any one?"

"Have you?" she returned, answering the question by asking another.

"I have not. Since Captain Thorn was disposed of, my suspicions have not
pointed anywhere."

This sealed Barbara's lips. She had hers, vague doubts, bringing wonder
more than anything else. At times she had thought the same doubts might
have occurred to Mr. Carlyle; she now found that they had not. The
terrible domestic calamity which had happened t