ent me back, sir, to say that the ivy which covered the
wall on the east end of the house has been torn down, and seems to
infer that some one must have climbed up it, to reach my master's
dressing-room."

"This is a very important circumstance," said the Chief Justice. "Let us
examine the room at once." And so saying, he led the way towards it.

Not a word was spoken as the party passed along the corridor and
ascended the stairs; each feared, even by a syllable, to betray the
terrible suspicions that were haunting his mind. It was a solemn
moment; and so their looks and gestures bespoke it. The house itself
had suddenly become silent; scarce a sound was beard within that vast
building, which so late had rung with revelry and joy. A distant door
would clap, or a faintly heard shriek from some one still suffering from
the recent shock; but all else was hushed and still.

"That is the room," said Meek, pointing to a door, beneath which,
although it was now daybreak, a stream of light issued; and, slight as
the circumstance was, the looks exchanged among the party seemed to give
it a significance.

The Chief Justice advanced and tapped at the door. Immediately a voice
was heard from within that all recognized as Cashel's asking,--

"Who's there?"

"We want you, Mr. Cashel," said the judge, in an accent which all the
instincts of his habit had not rendered free from a slight tremor.

The door was immediately thrown wide, and Roland stood before them. He
had not changed his dress since his arrival, and his torn sleeve and
blood-stained trousers at once caught every eye that was fixed upon him.
The disorder, too, was not confined to his own haggard look; the room
itself was littered with papers and letters, with clothes strewn
carelessly in every direction; and conspicuously amid all, an open
pistol-case was seen, from which one of the weapons was missing. A mass
of charred paper lay within the fender, and a great heap of paper lay,
as it were, ready for burning, beside the hearth. There was full time
for those who stood there to notice all these particulars, since neither
spoke, but each gazed on the other in terrible uncertainty. Cashel was
the first to break the silence.

[Illustration: 304]

"Well, sirs," said he, in a voice that only an effort made calm, "are my
friends so very impatient at my absence that they come to seek me in my
dressing-room?"

"The dreadful event that has just occurred, sir," said the j