the front door
and sat down, keeping his eyes upon the entrance of the little thicket
path, by which he knew that Joe must return. And although he knew it was
much too early to expect his messenger back, yet he still impatiently
watched that path.

Presently the sound of approaching horsemen struck upon his listening
ear. They were coming up the path through the thicket, and presently
they emerged from it--not two or three, but couple after couple, until
the old churchyard was filled with sheriff's officers and militia-men.
Sheriff Benthwick himself was at their head.

In great surprise, as if they had come in quest of him, Mr. Berners went
forward to receive the party.

Lyon Berners was known to have been the companion of his fugitive wife,
and therefore a sort of an outlaw; yet the sheriff took off his hat, and
accosted him respectfully.

"Mr. Berners, I am greatly surprised to see you here," he said.

"Not less than myself at seeing you," answered Lyon.

"We are here to seek out a set of burglars whom we have reason to
believe have their lair in this chapel," said Mr. Benthwick.

"Then your errand is not to me," observed Lyon.

"Certainly not! Though, should I find Mrs. Berners here, as well as
yourself, as I think now highly probable, I shall have a most painful
duty to perform."

"Ah, sir! within the last terrible month, I have become all too much
accustomed to the sight of friends with 'painful duties to perform,' as
they delicately put it. But you will be spared the pain. Mrs. Berners is
not here with me."

"Not here with you? Then where is she?"

"Excuse me, Mr. Benthwick," said Mr. Berners, gravely; "you certainly
forget yourself; you cannot possibly expect me to tell you--even if I
knew myself," he added, in an undertone.

"No, I cannot, indeed," admitted the sheriff. "Nor did I come here to
look for Mrs. Berners, having had neither information nor suspicion that
she was here; nevertheless, if I find her I shall be constrained to
arrest her. Were it not for my duty, I could almost pray that I might
not find her."

"I do not think you will," said Mr. Berners, grimly.

And meanwhile the officers and the militia-men, at a sign from the
sheriff, had surrounded the chapel so that it would be impossible for
any one who might be within its walls to escape from it.

"Now, Mr. Berners, as you assure me that your wife is not within this
building, perhaps you may have no objection to enter it with me,