ar, I trust," said the stranger,
smiling--"The young man's name to whom I allude is Fenton; but I appeal
to yourself, reverend sir, whether, if Sir Thomas Gourlay were to
become aware of the dying man's words, with which I have just made you
acquainted, he might not be apt, if it be a fact that he has in safe and
secret durance his brother's son, and the heir to the property which
he himself now enjoys, whether, I say, he might not take such steps
as Would probably render fruitless every search that could be made for
him?"

"You needn't fear me, sir," replied his reverence; "if you can keep your
own secret as well as I will, it won't travel far, I can tell you. But
what about this unfortunate young man, Fenton? I think I certainly heard
the people say from time to time that nobody knows anything about him,
either as to where he came from or who he is. How is he involved in this
affair, though?"

"I cannot speak with any certainty," replied the other; "but, to tell
you the truth, I often feel myself impressed with strong suspicions,
that he is the very individual we are seeking."

"But upon what reasons do you ground those suspicions." asked his
reverence.

The stranger then related to him the circumstances in connection with
Fenton's mysterious terror of Sir Thomas Gourlay, precisely as the
reader is already acquainted with them.

"But," said the priest, "can you believe now, if Sir Thomas was the
kidnapper in this instance, that he would allow unfortunate Fenton,
supposing he is his brother's heir, and who, they say, is often _non
compos_, to remain twenty-four hours at large?"

"Probably not; but you know he may be unaware of his residence so near
him. Sir Thomas, like too many of his countrymen, has been an absentee
for years, and is only a short time in this country, and still a shorter
at Red Hall. The young man probably is at large, because he may have
escaped. There is evidently some mysterious relation between Fenton
and the baronet, but what it is or can be I am utterly unable to trace.
Fenton, with all his wild eccentricity or insanity, is cautious, and on
his guard against me; and I find it impossible to get anything out of
him."

The worthy priest fell into a mood of apparently deep but agreeable
reflection, and the stranger felt a hope that he had fallen upon some
plan, or, at all events, that he had thought of or recalled to memory
some old recollection that might probably be of service to him.