eted the
meaning of that glance.

"No, Mrs. Carswell," she said, before the housekeeper could speak, "I
haven't come to call on either Mr. Gabriel or Mr. Joseph Chestermarke--I
came to see you. Mayn't I come in?"

Mrs. Carswell stepped back into the hall, and Betty followed. For a
moment the two looked at each other. And in the elder woman's eyes there
was still the same expression, and it was with obvious uncertainty, if
not with positive suspicion, that she waited.

"You have not heard anything of Mr. Horbury?" asked Betty, who was not
slow to notice the housekeeper's demeanour.

"Nothing!" replied Mrs. Carswell, with a shake of the head. "Nothing at
all! No one has told me anything."

Betty turned to the door of the dining-room.

"Very well," she said. "I dare say you know, Mrs. Carswell, that I am
my uncle's nearest relation. Now I want to go through his papers and
things. I want to see his desk--his last letters--anything--and
everything there is."

She laid a hand on the door--and Mrs. Carswell suddenly found her
tongue.

"Oh, miss!" she said, in a low, frightened voice, "you can't! That
room's locked up. So is the study--where all Mr. Horbury's papers are.
So is his bedroom. Mr. Joseph Chestermarke locked them all up last
night--he has the keys. Nobody's to go into them--nor into any other
room--without his permission."

Betty's cheeks began to glow, and an obstinate look to settle about her
lips.

"Oh!" she exclaimed. "But I think I shall have something to say to that,
Mrs. Carswell. Ask Mr. Joseph Chestermarke to come here a minute."

The housekeeper shrunk back.

"I daren't, Miss Fosdyke!" she answered. "It would be as much as my
place was worth!"

"I thought you were my uncle's housekeeper," suggested Betty. "Aren't
you? Or are you employed by Mr. Joseph Chestermarke? Come, now?"

Mrs. Carswell hesitated. It was very evident that she was afraid. But of
what?

"So far as I know," continued Betty, "this is my uncle's house, and
you're his servant. Am I right or wrong, Mrs. Carswell?"

"Right as regards my being engaged by Mr. Horbury," replied the
housekeeper. "But the house belongs to--them! Mr. Horbury--so I
understand--had the use of it--it was reckoned as part of his salary.
It's their house, miss."

"But, anyway, my uncle's effects are his--and I mean to see them,"
insisted Betty. "If you won't call Mr. Joseph--or Mr. Gabriel--out, I
shall walk into the bank at the front door, and d