" he thought to himself, "but it may very
likely be some one waiting for him to return. I must find out who--and
why."

Slipping through the darkness of the night, with whose shadows he seemed
to melt and mingle, as though he were but another one of them, he moved
quickly in the direction of these cautious footsteps he had listened to.

They had ceased now, and the silence was profound, for those faint
multitudinous noises of the night that murmur without ceasing in the
woods and fields are less noticeable near the habitations of men.

A little puzzled, Dunn paused to listen again and once more crept
forward a careful yard or two, and then lay still, feeling it would not
be safe to venture further till he was more sure of his direction, and
till some fresh sound to guide him reached his ears.

He had not long to wait, for very soon, from quite close by, he heard
something that surprised and perplexed him equally--a deep, long-drawn
sigh.

Again he heard it, and in utter wonder asked himself who this could be
who came into another person's garden late at night to stand and sigh,
and what such a proceeding could mean.

Once more he heard the sigh, deeper even than before, and then after it
a low murmur in which at first he could distinguish nothing, but then
caught the name of Ella being whispered over and over again.

He bent forward, more and more puzzled, trying in vain to make out
something in the darkness, and then from under a tree, whose shadow had
hitherto been a complete concealment, there moved forward a form so tall
and bulky there could be little doubt whom it belonged to.

"John Clive--what on earth--!" Dunn muttered, his bewilderment
increasing, and the next moment he understood and had some difficulty in
preventing himself from bursting out laughing as there reached him the
unmistakable sound of a kiss lightly blown through the air.

Clive was sending a kiss through the night towards Ella's room and his
nocturnal visit was nothing more than the whim of a love-sick youth.

With Dunn, his first amusement gave way almost at once to an extreme
annoyance.

For, in the first place, these proceedings seemed to him exceedingly
impertinent, for what possible right did Clive imagine he had to come
playing the fool like this, sighing in the dark and blowing kisses like
a baby to its mammy?

And secondly, unless he were greatly mistaken, John Clive might just as
sensibly and safely have dropped overboard