begging your secret cooperation, I have reasons that
will meet your entire approval when they are made plain to you. We shall
return to town on the 15th of next month, and my first duty will be to
present myself at your hospitable door and satisfy your curiosity, if I
have excited it. My father, I am glad to state, has so greatly improved
that he can no longer be regarded as an invalid. With great esteem, I
am, etc., etc.

XIII.

EDWARD DELANEY TO JOHN FLEMMING.

August 31, 1872.

Your letter, announcing your mad determination to come here, has just
reached me. I beseech you to reflect a moment. The step would be fatal
to your interests and hers. You would furnish just cause for irritation
to R. W. D.; and, though he loves Marjorie devotedly, he is capable of
going to any lengths if opposed. You would not like, I am convinced, to
be the means of causing him to treat her with severity. That would be
the result of your presence at The Pines at this juncture. I am annoyed
to be obliged to point out these things to you. We are on very delicate
ground, Jack; the situation is critical, and the slightest mistake in
a move would cost us the game. If you consider it worth the winning,
be patient. Trust a little to my sagacity. Wait and see what happens.
Moreover, I understand from Dillon that you are in no condition to take
so long a journey. He thinks the air of the coast would be the worst
thing possible for you; that you ought to go inland, if anywhere. Be
advised by me. Be advised by Dillon.

XIV.

TELEGRAMS. September 1, 1872.

1.--TO EDWARD DELANEY.

Letter received. Dillon be hanged. I think I ought to be on the ground.
J. F.

2.--TO JOHN FLEMMING.

Stay where you are. You would only complicated matters. Do not move
until you hear from me. E. D.

3.--TO EDWARD DELANEY.

My being at The Pines could be kept secret. I must see her. J. F.

4.--TO JOHN FLEMMING.

Do not think of it. It would be useless. R. W. D. has locked M. in her
room. You would not be able to effect and interview. E. D.

5.--TO EDWARD DELANEY.

Locked her in her room. Good God. That settles the question. I shall
leave by the twelve-fifteen express. J. F.

XV.

THE ARRIVAL.

On the second day of September, 1872, as the down express, due at 3.40,
left the station at Hampton, a young man, leaning on the shoulder of a
servant, whom he addressed as Watkins, stepped from the platform into a
hack, and requested to be