ed you a way?"

Dunn did not answer at first, and for some moments the two men stood
watching each other and staring into each other's eyes as though each
was trying to read the depths of the other's soul.

"Suppose," said Deede Dawson very softly. "Suppose you were to meet
Rupert Dunsmore--alone--quite alone?"

Still Dunn did not answer, but somehow it appeared that his silence was
full of a very deadly significance.

"Suppose you did--what would you do?" murmured Deede Dawson again,
and his voice sank lower with each word he uttered till the last was a
scarce-audible whisper.

Dunn stopped and picked up a hoe that was lying near by. He placed the
tough ash handle across his knee, and with a movement of his powerful
hands, he broke the hoe across.

The two smashed pieces he dropped on the ground, and looking at Deede
Dawson, he said:

"Like that--if ever Rupert Dunsmore and I meet alone, only one of us
will go away alive." And he confirmed it with an oath.

Deede Dawson clapped him on the shoulder, and laughed.

"Good!" he cried. "Why, you're the man I've been looking for for a long
time. The fact is, Rupert Dunsmore played me a nasty trick once, and I
want to clear accounts with him. Now, suppose I show him to you--?"

"You do that," said Dunn, and he repeated the oath he had sworn before.
"You show him to me, and I'll take care he never troubles any one
again."

"That's the way I like to hear a man talk," cried Deede Dawson.
"Dunsmore has been away for a time on business I can make a guess at,
but he is coming back soon. Should you know him if you saw him?"

"Should I know him?" repeated Dunn contemptuously. "Should I know
myself?"

"That's good," said Deede Dawson again. "By the way, perhaps you can
tell me, hasn't Lord Chobham a rather distant cousin, Walter Dunsmore,
living with him as secretary or something of the sort--quite a distant
relative, I believe, though in the direct line of succession?"

"Very likely," said Dunn indifferently. "I think so, but I don't care
anything about the rest of them. It's only Rupert Dunsmore I have
anything against."

CHAPTER XIX. THE VISIT TO WRESTE ABBEY

It was a little later when Deede Dawson returned to the subject of
Wreste Abbey.

"Lord Chobham has a very valuable collection of plate and jewellery and
so on, hasn't he?" he asked.

"Oh, there's plenty of the stuff there," Dunn answered. "Why?"

"Oh, I was thinking a visit might be made fairly