is paternal way. "Isn't that going a little
too far--to accuse a woman of poisoning upon such slight evidence? How
is your father's health?"

"Failing every day. Every day he grows weaker, but he will see no
doctor--does not believe in them and will never let one enter his house
if it can be avoided. But he is weakening steadily. And it is not
because of his seventy-six years, either, for a haler and heartier man
never lived--until Paula started this wicked thing upon him, and began
making him bread-and-milk for supper. She says he eats too heavily; that
it is not good for him. And Father takes every word as law."

"A somewhat unwise course with any woman--begging your pardon," put in
Mr. Narkom with a smile. "And now tell me what arrangements your father
has made for the future of his second wife and her son. Or don't you
know?"

"As it happens, I do. Father is a great stickler for inheritance--or was
until Paula got hold of him--and upon his marriage with her, when my
brother and I were only children (I am twenty-seven and Ross is
twenty-nine), he made this point quite clear to her, I understood,
assuring her upon the birth of Cyril of a sufficient income for her own
and Cyril's needs when death should claim him for its own.

"Paula, however, has always wanted Aygon Castle; always envied us as its
rightful owners; always said what _she_ would do with it if it belonged
to _her_. And now that Ross has taken up with this electrical hobby (an
extravagant one, as you no doubt know), he has installed a complete
lighting plant in the Castle instead of the musty old lamps which we
used to use, and has thereby frightened all the old tenants of the place
nearly out of their wits. For they have never seen such a thing before!"

"And yet we live in modern times, and in the year of grace
Nineteen-Twenty-Two," said Mr. Narkom quietly.

"But you must remember that our village is miles away from anywhere,"
she returned quickly. "It is a sort of rock-bound fortress which is
almost as impenetrable as the fortresses of old. Miles of
heather-covered hills and crags surround us, and the nearest
town--Cragnorth--is a three hours' journey away. Many of the villagers
have never even seen a train, so that this modern installation of
electricity into the old castle is like some witchcraft that terrifies
them. Paula has made a tremendous fuss, too, saying that the place is
ruined, that it is vandalism, and has so inflamed Father that quar