. In the
first place, I don't see why you should hope to succeed when the men
whose business it is to do such work have failed. In the next place, I
think that you may get into serious danger."

"That I must risk, Millicent. I have already proved a better shot than
he is, and I am quite ready to take my chance if I can but come upon
him; that is the difficult part of the matter. I know that I shall need
patience, but I have plenty of time before me, and have great hopes that
I shall run him to earth at last."

"But you would not know him if you saw him?"

"I think I should," Mark said quietly; "at least, if he is the man that
I suspect."

"Then you do suspect someone?" Mrs. Cunningham said, laying down her
work.

"Yes, I know of no reason why you should not know it now. I
suspect--indeed, I feel morally certain--that the man who murdered my
father was Arthur Bastow."

An exclamation of surprise broke from both his hearers, and they
listened with horror while he detailed the various grounds that he had
for his suspicions. They were silent for some time after he had brought
his narrative to a conclusion, then Mrs. Cunningham said:

"What a merciful release for Mr. Bastow that he should have died before
this terrible thing came out! For after what you have told us I can
hardly doubt that you are right, and that it is this wicked man who is
guilty."

"Yes, it was indeed providential," Mark said, "though I think that,
feeble as he has been for some months, it might have been kept from him.
Still, a word from a chance visitor, who did not associate Bastow the
murderer with our dear old friend, might have enlightened him, and the
blow would have been a terrible one indeed. It is true that, as it was,
he died from the shock, but he did not know the hand that struck the
blow."

"Now that you have told me this," Millicent said, "I cannot blame you,
Mark, for determining to hunt the man down. It seems even worse than it
did before; it is awful to think that anyone could cherish revenge like
that. Now tell me how you are going to set about it."

"I have promised the chief officer that I will tell absolutely no
one," he said. "I have a plan, and I believe that in time it must be
successful. I know well enough that I could tell you both of it without
any fear of its going further, but he asked me to promise, and I did so
without reservation; moreover, I think that for some reasons it is as
well that even you should not