th were painful to observe. Still
he held her and whispered on.

The only words that could be caught by Anne Seaway, confused as her
hearing frequently was by the moan of the wind and the waterfall in
her outer ear, were these of Miss Aldclyffe, in tones which absolutely
quivered: 'They have no money. What can they prove?'

The listener tasked herself to the utmost to catch his answer, but it
was in vain. Of the remainder of the colloquy one fact alone was plain
to Anne, and that only inductively--that Miss Aldclyffe, from what he
had revealed to her, was going to scheme body and soul on Manston's
behalf.

Miss Aldclyffe seemed now to have no further reason for remaining,
yet she lingered awhile as if loth to leave him. When, finally, the
crestfallen and agitated lady made preparations for departure, Anne
quickly inserted the bolt, ran round to the entrance archway, and down
the steps into the park. Here she stood close to the trunk of a huge
lime-tree, which absorbed her dark outline into its own.

In a few minutes she saw Manston, with Miss Aldclyffe leaning on his
arm, cross the glade before her and proceed in the direction of the
house. She watched them ascend the rise and advance, as two black spots,
towards the mansion. The appearance of an oblong space of light in the
dark mass of walls denoted that the door was opened. Miss Aldclyffe's
outline became visible upon it; the door shut her in, and all was
darkness again. The form of Manston returning alone arose from the
gloom, and passed by Anne in her hiding-place.

Waiting outside a quarter of an hour longer, that no suspicion of any
kind might be excited, Anne returned to the old manor-house.

4. FROM EIGHT TO ELEVEN O'CLOCK P.M.

Manston was very friendly that evening. It was evident to her, now
that she was behind the scenes, that he was making desperate efforts to
disguise the real state of his mind.

Her terror of him did not decrease. They sat down to supper, Manston
still talking cheerfully. But what is keener than the eye of a
mistrustful woman? A man's cunning is to it as was the armour of Sisera
to the thin tent-nail. She found, in spite of his adroitness, that he
was attempting something more than a disguise of his feeling. He was
trying to distract her attention, that he might be unobserved in some
special movement of his hands.

What a moment it was for her then! The whole surface of her body became
attentive. She allowed him no chance what