t
morning, that she ate no breakfast at all, a departure which worried Miss
Marcia not a little. But Leslie was out of the house and off the moment
she had finished washing the dishes.

It was some time before she could locate her companion, as the Kelvins
had gone off early on a fishing expedition a short way up the inlet,
having persuaded Phyllis to join them, a thing she had done but little of
late. After a long walk and much halloo-ing, however, Leslie sighted
their boat. And it took considerable time before she could persuade
Phyllis to come ashore, as she could not very well impart to her,
standing on the bank, that she had news of vital importance concerning
their secret.

When Phyllis had at last been lured ashore and the two had walked away
out of sight, she told the tale of her curious experience at dawn.

"And now, Phyllis, what do you make of it?" she demanded, wide eyed.

"There's only one thing to make of it," returned Phyllis, gravely, "And
that is--there's some one else mixed up in this--some one we haven't
known about or counted on at all! I thought Miss Ramsay, all along, was
the only one concerned in it. Now we can only guess that that isn't so.
But how to make head or tail of the whole thing is beyond me. What kind
of a man did you say he was?"

Leslie described him again. "Of course, it was still hardly light and I
couldn't see him plainly at all," she ended. "I never even got a glimpse
of his face, nor how he was dressed. But he was tall and broad-shouldered,
and I think stooped a little and walked with quite a decided limp."

"That last fact ought to help to identify him, if nothing else," mused
Phyllis. "But I confess I'm more at sea than ever about the whole thing.
I was beginning to think I'd reduced things to some kind of a theory, but
this upsets everything. And it annoys me so to think I'm always out of
it, being so far away from Curlew's Nest. I do believe I'll have to come
and spend my nights with you or I'll never be on the scene of action at
the most interesting time!"

"Oh, I _do_ wish you would!" urged Leslie, earnestly. "I'm really
beginning to be quite nervous about all this. It's so uncanny, not being
able to say a word about it to Aunt Marcia or any one--being all alone
there, or as good as alone, when these queer things happen. Don't you
suppose we could arrange it somehow that you could come over and stay
with me--without having it seem odd or out of the way to the others?