him then?"

"I have." Sternly he made reply. He still held the note she had given him
crumpled in his hand.

Aunt Philippa stiffened her neck severely. "And you left them alone to
say good-bye! My dear Trevor, are you mad, or only criminally indifferent
to your own interests?"

"I am neither," he said.

"And do you know what happened?"

"I do not wish to know."

She contemplated him for a moment in silence, then: "Your own servant has
more common sense," she said.

"Do you mean Holmes?" He spoke with absolute composure, not as one
vitally interested; but his eyes made her nervous, they were so still and
intent.

"I do mean Holmes," she said. "He came to me in the course of the morning
and informed me that his mistress was under the yew-tree and wanted me. I
thought his message unusual at the time. When I went out to the yew-tree
about ten minutes later, I understood the meaning of it. They were
together there, in each other's arms. I did not interrupt them, for I
felt it my duty to ascertain, if possible, how far the mischief had gone.
But I was not successful. The interview came to an end almost at once. He
knelt down upon the ground and kissed her hands, after which he got up
and went away. I did not hear what he said to her, but it was certainly
no word of farewell. Personally I am convinced that his leave-taking was
not final. As for Chris herself, she seemed dazed, and I left her to
recover."

Aunt Philippa paused. He had not interrupted her, but she did not feel
his silence to be reassuring. She found it impossible to meet his look
any longer, though she made a valiant effort to do so.

"I hope you will believe," she said, after a moment, "that nothing but a
most urgent sense of duty has impelled me to tell you this."

He did not answer, and she began to flounder a little, finding his
silence hard to fathom.

"I felt that you ought to be upon your guard. As I have told you before,
not one of the Wyndhams is to be trusted. I think you have been too
generous in this respect, and have laid yourself open to deception.
However--now that I have warned you once more, you will perhaps be more
careful in the future. I can only hope that my warning has come in time."

Again she paused, but still he remained silent, looking straight at her
with a steely regard that never altered.

She mustered her forces at length to ask a direct question. "What do you
propose to do with regard to that letter you hold in y