anks,
Morriston went back to the officials.

As the two men crossed the hall the drawing-room door opened and Miss
Morriston came out.

"Is my brother coming?" she asked.

"He will be down soon," Gifford answered in as casual a tone as he
could assume.

The girl seemed struck by the gravity of their faces as she glanced from
one to the other. "I hope nothing is wrong," she observed, with just a
shade of apprehension.

There was a momentary pause as each man, hesitating between a direct
falsehood, the truth, and a plausible excuse, rather waited for the
other to speak.

Gifford answered. "No, nothing that you need worry about, Miss Morriston.
Your brother will tell you later on."

But the hesitation seemed to have aroused the girl's suspicions. "Do tell
me now," she said, with just a tremor of anxiety underlying the
characteristic coldness of her tone. "Unless," she added, "it is
something not exactly proper for me to hear."

Kelson quickly availed himself of the loophole she gave him. "You had
better wait and hear it from Dick," he said, suggesting a move towards
the drawing-room. "In the meantime there is nothing you need be
alarmed about."

"It all sounds very mysterious," Miss Morriston returned, her
apprehension scarcely hidden by a forced smile. "I must go and ask
Dick--"

As she turned towards the passage leading to the tower Kelson sprang
forward and intercepted her. "No, no, Miss Morriston," he remonstrated
with a prohibiting gesture, "don't go up there now. Take my word for it
you had better not. Dick will be down directly to explain what is wrong."

For a few moments her eyes rested on him searchingly.

"Very well," she said at length. "If you say I ought not to go, I won't.
But you don't lessen my anxiety to know what has happened."

"There is no particular cause for anxiety on your part," Kelson said
reassuringly.

She had turned and now led the way to the drawing-room. As they entered
they were received by expectant looks.

"Well, is the mystery solved?" young Tredworth inquired.

Kelson gave him a silencing look. "You'll hear all about it in good
time," he replied between lightness and gravity.

Piercy rose to take his leave.

"Oh, you must not go yet," Miss Morriston protested. "They are just
bringing tea."

"But I fear I may be in the way if there is anything--" he urged.

"Oh, no," his hostess insisted. "I don't know of anything wrong. At least
neither Captain Kelson nor Mr.