t not too old to take hold. Now when he comes--"

"But, Amy, my dear! You can't get _him_! Why, he's not only one of
the highest-priced detectives in the country, but he's retired I've
read, and I doubt if he'd take a case--"

"He's going to take _your_ case, Jimmie boy!" and Amy smiled.

"But how--how--"

"I think we'll have to give Miss Mason credit for a whole lot in this
matter," broke in Kenneth. "She surprised me when she told me. And I
want to say that when the colonel gets going we'll have you out of here
in short order, Mr. Darcy!"

"But I don't understand--"

"That's what I came to tell you about, Jimmie boy! Now just keep quiet
and listen!"

Thereupon Amy went on to relate all that had happened when she sought
out the fisherman at the trout brook--how she had been cared for by him
and Shag after her faint, and how, after some persuasion, the great
detective had agreed to take up the matter of seeking out the real
murderer of Mrs. Darcy.

"He came here under a different name," Amy continued, "for he did not
want to be bothered with work. But Tom--he's the little jockey dad got
a place for as train-boy--met him on the express and learned that the
colonel was the great detective. Then Tom came and told me when he
read of your--of your--"

"Oh, say _arrest_, Amy! I'm getting hardened to it by now."

"Well, then, your--arrest. I hate the word! Tom came and told me and
said we must get Colonel Brentnall at once. That was the name he used,
but, now he has consented to take your case, he's Colonel Ashley again."

"And what am I to do, Amy?"

"Just what he tells you--nothing more or less. Tell him everything
from the beginning to the end. All about your quarrel with Mrs.
Darcy--I read in the papers you had one. Was that so?"

"Yes, and, I am sorry to say, it was partly about you."

"I don't mind, Jimmie boy. I know it couldn't have been very bad."

"It wasn't. She--well, she sneered at you for thinking of marrying
me--a poor man--and--"

"As if money counted, Jimmie boy!" cried the girl fondly.

"I know. But it angered me, I admit. However, nothing more came of
that. And as for her finding fault with me about my electric lathe,
and about the money she owed me--well, that was a sort of periodic
disagreement."

"Tell the colonel all about it."

"I will. And are you sure your father--"

"Dad's with me in this--with me and you! He'd have come to see you
himself to-day, but I