y suspicions were soon quieted,
after I discovered that your gallant Captain had really come into the
grounds--with your having left the gate ajar for him so that Rhea's
bell would not sound--to meet _you_ clandestinely, as he had been
forbidden the house. Love will always find a way, you know. Only, it was
unfortunate at the time that he should have chosen that night of all
others to have come to meet you. You knew of the crime, then, Captain?
Or what was it that sent you pelting away so hard from the house that
held your affianced bride?"

"Simply because I had heard a woman's scream, had seen the lights all
over the Castle switch up, and did not want my meeting with Maud to be
discovered--lest a more certain means should be taken to keep us apart
ever afterward," returned the Captain, a trifle heatedly. "And I must
confess that I was a bit nonplussed and--and angered when you mistook
_me_ for a murderer and held me under suspicion."

"For which you might readily give your apology, as a better mannered man
has already done," apostrophized Cleek inwardly. "Still, we can't help a
man's nature, and he seems a likely enough chap, as men go. _And_ she
loves him. And it's no affair of mine as to how he behaves himself--so
long as he was not the guilty party." Then, aloud, "I see. Well, Miss
Duggan will explain to you how your hunting-boots came to be here, and
to lead to your being suspected along with the other. Just ask her
afterward--eh, Miss Duggan? And love her still more for her womanly
sentiment, if I may be permitted to tender any advice.

"I think that is really all. Only, I should like just a word with Sir
Ross and Cyril alone, if I may be granted the favour? And then I must be
going. Mr. Narkom and I have other affairs to attend to in this
neighbourhood which are very pressing and will want a lot of careful
handling to bring home to their proper destination.... Thanks very
much."

He got to his feet instantly as the women arose, followed by Captain
Macdonald, and quietly left the room. Only Sir Ross, Cyril, and Mr.
Narkom remained. As the door closed behind them, Ross Duggan spoke up.

"What is it that you wish to say, Mr. Cleek?" he said quietly. "I'll be
glad if you will go easy with Cyril. He's not a bad boy, you know. Only
a trifle misguided, and I shall make it my duty in future to keep a
sharper eye upon him. The boy has had no other companions but his books
of adventure and his own imagination."

"A