iron key to the gate in the wall east of Bowling
Green Hill was missed from the forester's closet where it had hung for a
century or more. Bowling Green Hill, as you know, is eastward from Haddon
Hall a distance of the fourth part of a mile, and the gate is east of the
hill about the same distance or less. A wall is built upon the east line
of the Haddon estate, and east of the wall lies a great trackless forest
belonging to the house of Devonshire. In olden times there had been a road
from Bakewell to Rowsley along the east side of the wall; but before Sir
George's seizin the road had been abandoned and the gate was not used. It
stood in a secluded, unfrequented spot, and Dorothy thought herself very
shrewd in choosing it for a trysting-place.

But as I told you, one day the key was missed. It was of no value or use,
and at first nothing was thought of its loss; but from time to time the
fact that it could not be found was spoken of as curious. All the servants
had been questioned in vain, and the loss of the key to Bowling Green Gate
soon took on the dignity of a mystery--a mystery soon to be solved, alas!
to Dorothy's undoing.

The afternoon of the day following the terrible scene between Sir George
and his daughter at the supper table, Dorothy rode forth alone upon her
mare Dolcy. From the window of my room in Eagle Tower I saw her go down
the west side of the Wye toward Rowsley. I ascended to the roof of the
tower, and from that elevation I saw her cross the river, and soon she was
lost to sight in the forest. At that time I knew nothing of the new
trysting-place, but I felt sure that Dorothy had gone out to seek John.
The sun shone brightly, and its gentle warmth enticed me to remain upon
the tower battlements, to muse, and to dream. I fetched my pipe and
tobacco from my room. I had been smoking at intervals for several months,
but had not entirely learned to like the weed, because of a slight nausea
which it invariably caused me to feel. But I thought by practice now and
again to inure myself to the habit, which was then so new and fashionable
among modish gentlemen. While I smoked I mused upon the past and present,
and tried to peer into the future--a fruitless task wherein we waste much
valuable time; a vain striving, like Eve's, after forbidden knowledge,
which, should we possess it, would destroy the little remnant of Eden
still existing on earth. Could we look forward only to our joys, a
knowledge of the fu