roken parole, and to do that----"

"You won't tell?--oh, surely you won't tell!" she gave out in a low,
wrung voice. "How you could mimic Ross Duggan as you did is beyond me.
But you stole my confidence, and I demand its return: that you tell
nothing of to-night to a living soul. Will you promise me that?"

He paused a moment and looked down at her with frowning brows. Then his
face cleared.

"Very well, then. That is a bargain. But I don't think you realize just
how near to actual danger you ran to-night in your mad pursuit of Ross
Duggan. What made you think I was he?"

"I don't know. Only I had followed him from the Castle down the lane,
and then lost sight of him at the edge of the little burn which skirts
that particular valley. And then I saw--you. And somehow, to my
untrained eyes in the darkness, you looked like him--perhaps I was so
anxious to find him that I willed myself unconsciously to think that you
were he--but be that as it may, I made the profound mistake, and--now
the mischief is done with a vengeance. What shall I do now? What _shall_
I do?"

"Return to Aygon Castle, my dear young lady, by the route by which you
left it, and leave things in Higher Hands than yours," Cleek returned
gravely, as they whizzed past in the darkness, the motor thrumming a
purring accompaniment to his low-pitched voice. "Never urge a criminal
to flee from justice, for as surely as he remains alive justice will
find him--and make him pay the penalty all the more severely for his
pains! Justice must be done in a civilized country, my dear young lady;
that is what we pay our taxes for--to uphold those same judges who will
mete out justice in a proper, unprejudiced fashion."

"But Ross--you think he is guilty?"

"Who knows? Time alone will tell. And his innocence will be better
proved if he is not urged to fly away from the outcome of his actions. I
must ask you, too, a favour. Rather, I must exact a promise. Please
leave Ross Duggan alone until after to-morrow."

"And then?"

"If I know aught of anything, he will be beyond the power of your
assistance--and perhaps not in need of it," he replied quietly. "Here is
the Castle. Slip in, now, through that wicket-gate that the tradesmen
use, I believe, and get back to the house as quickly as you can. I'll
give your orders to the chauffeur."

She got out unsteadily, and then stood looking up at him, her eyes
glowing darkly in the frame of her pale, serious face.

"And you