at he expected. For a moment he stared as the detective
stopped and confronted him. He appeared to recognize Mark, or at any
rate regard him as an enemy, for instantly he turned, plunged into
the woods behind him, and disappeared. In a moment he had vanished
and the riot of the storm hid all sounds of his panic flight.

CHAPTER VI

ROBERT REDMAYNE IS HEARD

For some moments Mark stood motionless with his eyes on the moonlit
gate and the forest gloom behind it. There rhododendron and laurel
made dense evergreen cover beneath the pines and offered inviolable
shelter. To follow Robert Redmayne was vain and also dangerous, for
in such a spot it might easily happen that the hunter would lie at
the mercy of the hunted.

This sudden apparition bewildered Brendon, for it argued much beyond
itself. Surely it indicated treachery and falsehood among those he
had just left at "Crow's Nest," for it was a coincidence almost
inconceivable that on this day of his chance visit, the wanted man
should suddenly reappear in the neighbourhood of his brother's
house. Yet collusion seemed impossible, for Mark had given no notice
to Bendigo Redmayne of his coming.

Brendon asked himself if he had suffered a hallucination, but he
knew that his rational mind was not constituted to create ghosts
from within. Imagination he had, but therein was a source of
strength, not weakness, and no grain of superstition weakened his
mental endowment. He knew also that no one had been farther from his
thoughts than Robert Redmayne at the moment of his sudden
appearance. No, he had seen a living man and one who certainly would
not willingly have revealed himself.

He had not the least intention of ignoring his discovery and was
quite prepared to arrest Robert Redmayne, even under his brother's
roof if necessary; but he desired first to hear Jenny Pendean upon
the subject before seeking the assistance of the Dartmouth police.
He felt that she would not deceive him, or answer a direct appeal
with a lie. And then there flashed upon him the painful conviction
that she must already have lied to him; for if Redmayne were living
concealed at "Crow's Nest," all the household, including Doria and
the solitary woman servant, would assuredly be in the secret.

Supposing Jenny begged him to hold his hand and spare Robert
Redmayne, would he then be justified in keeping his discovery to
himself? Some men might have built up a personal hope upon this
possibil