il in that tragic little scene seemed to glide
into his memory with a distinctness and amplitude which time had never
for one second dimmed. So it must be until the end. He forgot the girl
and her errand. He forgot the carefully cultivated philosophy which for
so many years had helped him towards forgetfulness. So he sat until the
sound of their voices upon the lawn recalled him to the present.

"I will leave you to have your talk with uncle," Clara said. "Afterwards
I will come back to you. There he is, sitting under the cedar tree."

The girl came swiftly over to his side. For a moment the compassion which
he had always felt for her swept away the memory of his own sorrow. Her
pallid, colourless face had lost everything except expression. If the
weariness, which seemed to have found a home in her eyes, was just now
absent, it was because a worse thing was shining out of them--a fear,
of which there were traces even in her hurried walk and tone. He rose at
once and held out his hands.

"Come and sit down, Hester," he said, "and don't look so frightened."

She obeyed him at once.

"I am frightened," she said, "because I feel that I ought not to have
come here, and yet I thought that you ought to know at once what has
happened. Sir Leslie Borrowdean has been coming to see mother. Last night
he took her out to dinner. She came home--late--she was not quite
herself. This morning she was frightened and hysterical. She said--that
she had been talking."

"To Sir Leslie Borrowdean?"

"Yes."

Mannering showed no signs of dismay. He took the girl's thin white hand
in his, and held it almost affectionately.

"I am very glad to know this at once, dear," he said, "and you did what
was right and kind when you came to see me. But Sir Leslie Borrowdean has
no reason to make himself my enemy. On the contrary, just now he seems
particularly anxious to cultivate my friendship."

"Then why," the girl asked, "has he gone out of his way to--to--"

Mannering stopped her.

"He had a motive, of course. Borrowdean is one of those men who do
nothing without a motive. I believe that I can even guess what it is.
Don't let this thing distress you too much, Hester. I do not think that
we have anything to worry about."

"But he knows!"

"I could not imagine a man," Mannering answered, "better able to keep a
secret."

The girl sat silent for a moment.

"I suppose I have been an idiot," she remarked.

"You have been nothing of the