g? Painting. Very well; where is the result? Is it such that any
artist will testify that I was busily engaged? Don't you see, Miss
Manning? I must either produce that sketch or stand convicted of the
mean offense you yourself imputed to me instantly when you heard of my
whereabouts."

"Oh, I didn't really imply that," said Sylvia, and a new note of
sympathy crept into her voice. "It would be horrid if--if you couldn't
explain; and--it seems to me that the sketches--you made more than
one, didn't you?--should be shown to the authorities."

Trenholme's face lit with gratitude because of her ready tact. He was
sorely impelled to leave matters on their present footing, but whipped
himself to the final stage.

"There is worse to come," he said miserably.

"Goodness me! What else _can_ there be?"

"Mr Furneaux has asked me--ordered me, in fact--to meet you by the
side of the lake tomorrow morning at a quarter past nine and bring the
drawings. Now you know why I have ventured to call this afternoon. I
simply could not wait till I was brought before you like a collared
thief with the loot in his possession. I _had_ to meet you without the
intervention of a grinning policeman. When you heard my plea I
thought, I hoped, that you might incline to a less severe view than
would be possible if the matter came to your notice without warning."

He stopped abruptly. A curiously introspective look had come into the
girl's eyes, for he had summoned up courage to glance at her again,
and snatch one last impression of her winsome loveliness before she
bade him be gone.

"Where are you staying in Roxton, Mr. Trenholme?" she asked. The
unexpected nature of the question almost took his breath away.

"At the White Horse Inn," he said.

She pointed across the park.

"That farm there, Mr. Jackson's, lies nearly opposite the inn. I
suppose the detective has not impounded your sketch?"

"No," he murmured, quite at a loss to follow her intent.

"Well, Mr. Jackson will let you go and come through his farmyard to
oblige me. It will be a short cut for you, too. If you have no
objection, I'll walk with you to the boundary wall, which you can
climb easily.

"Then you might bring this debatable picture, and let me see it--the
others as well, if you wish. Wouldn't that be a good idea? I mightn't
get quite such a shock in the morning, when the detective man parades
you before me. It is not very late. I have plenty of time to stroll
that fa