oubted me?'

'Well, where is my sister?' said Owen.

'Locked in the next room.'

His own answer reminded Manston that Cytherea must, by some inscrutable
means, have had an inkling of the event.

Owen had gone to the door of Cytherea's room.

'Cytherea, darling--'tis Owen,' he said, outside the door. A rustling
of clothes, soft footsteps, and a voice saying from the inside, 'Is it
really you, Owen,--is it really?'

'It is.'

'O, will you take care of me?'

'Always.'

She unlocked the door, and retreated again. Manston came forward from
the other room with a candle in his hand, as Owen pushed open the door.

Her frightened eyes were unnaturally large, and shone like stars in the
darkness of the background, as the light fell upon them. She leapt up to
Owen in one bound, her small taper fingers extended like the leaves of a
lupine. Then she clasped her cold and trembling hands round his neck and
shivered.

The sight of her again kindled all Manston's passions into activity.
'She shall not go with you,' he said firmly, and stepping a pace or two
closer, 'unless you prove that she is not my wife; and you can't do it!'

'This is proof,' said Owen, holding up the paper.

'No proof at all,' said Manston hotly. ''Tis not a death-bed confession,
and those are the only things of the kind held as good evidence.'

'Send for a lawyer,' Owen returned, 'and let him tell us the proper
course to adopt.'

'Never mind the law--let me go with Owen!' cried Cytherea, still holding
on to him. 'You will let me go with him, won't you, sir?' she said,
turning appealingly to Manston.

'We'll have it all right and square,' said Manston, with more quietness.
'I have no objection to your brother sending for a lawyer, if he wants
to.'

It was getting on for twelve o'clock, but the proprietor of the hotel
had not yet gone to bed on account of the mystery on the first floor,
which was an occurrence unusual in the quiet family lodging. Owen looked
over the banisters, and saw him standing in the hall. It struck Graye
that the wisest course would be to take the landlord to a certain extent
into their confidence, appeal to his honour as a gentleman, and so on,
in order to acquire the information he wanted, and also to prevent the
episode of the evening from becoming a public piece of news. He called
the landlord up to where they stood, and told him the main facts of the
story.

The landlord was fortunately a quiet, prejudiced man, and