Somerset found from his inquiries that the man had unquestionably been
instructed by somebody to take the views he spoke of; and concluded that
Dare's curiosity at the inn was, after all, naturally explained by his
errand to this place. Blaming himself for a too hasty condemnation of
the stranger, who though visually a little too assured was civil enough
verbally, Somerset proceeded with the young photographer to sundry
corners of the outer ward, and thence across the moat to the field,
suggesting advantageous points of view. The office, being a shadow of
his own pursuits, was not uncongenial to Somerset, and he forgot other
things in attending to it.

'Now in our country we should stand further back than this, and so get a
more comprehensive coup d'oeil,' said Dare, as Somerset selected a good
situation.

'You are not an Englishman, then,' said Somerset.

'I have lived mostly in India, Malta, Gibraltar, the Ionian Islands,
and Canada. I there invented a new photographic process, which I am bent
upon making famous. Yet I am but a dilettante, and do not follow this
art at the base dictation of what men call necessity.'

'O indeed,' Somerset replied.

As soon as this business was disposed of, and Mr. Dare had brought up
his van and assistant to begin operations, Somerset returned to the
castle entrance. While under the archway a man with a professional look
drove up in a dog-cart and inquired if Miss Power were at home to-day.

'She has not yet returned, Mr. Havill,' was the reply.

Somerset, who had hoped to hear an affirmative by this time,
thought that Miss Power was bent on disappointing him in the flesh,
notwithstanding the interest she expressed in him by telegraph; and as
it was now drawing towards the end of the afternoon, he walked off in
the direction of his inn.

There were two or three ways to that spot, but the pleasantest was by
passing through a rambling shrubbery, between whose bushes trickled
a broad shallow brook, occasionally intercepted in its course by a
transverse chain of old stones, evidently from the castle walls, which
formed a miniature waterfall. The walk lay along the river-brink. Soon
Somerset saw before him a circular summer-house formed of short sticks
nailed to ornamental patterns. Outside the structure, and immediately
in the path, stood a man with a book in his hand; and it was presently
apparent that this gentleman was holding a conversation with some
person inside the pavilio