his elbow.

"Treachery!" snapped Trenchard in a whisper. "Hell and damnation! Step
aside, man."

Mr. Wilding turned to Lord Gervase, and begged of him to take charge of
Mistress Wilding. "I deplore this interruption," he told her, no whit
ruffled by what he had heard. "But I shall rejoin you soon. Meanwhile,
his lordship will do the honours for me." This last he said with his
eyes moving to Lady Horton and her daughter.

Lord Gervase, in some surprise, but overruled by his cousin's calm,
took the bride on his arm and led her from the churchyard to the waiting
carriage. To this he handed her, and after her her aunt and cousin.
Then, mounting himself, they drove away, leaving Wilding and Trenchard
among the tombstones, whither the messenger of evil had meanwhile led
his friend. Trenchard rapped out his story briefly.

"Shenke," said he, "who was riding from Lyme with letters for you from
the Duke, was robbed of his dispatches late last night a mile or so this
side Taunton."

"Highwaymen?" inquired Mr. Wilding, his tone calm, though his glance had
hardened.

"Highwaymen? No! Government agents belike. There were two of them, he
says--for I have the tale from himself--and they met him at the Hare and
Hounds at Taunton, where he stayed to sup last night. One of them gave
him the password, and he conceived him to be a friend. But afterwards,
growing suspicious, he refused to tell them too much. They followed
him, it appears, and on the road they overtook and fell upon him; they
knocked him from his horse, possessed themselves of the contents of his
wallet, and left him for dead--with his head broken."

Mr. Wilding drew a sharp breath. His wits worked quickly. He was, he
realized, in deadly peril. One thought he gave to Ruth. If the worst
came to pass here was one who would rejoice in her freedom. The
reflection cut through him like a sword. He would be loath to die
until he had taught her to regret him. Then his mind returned to what
Trenchard had told him.

"You said a Government agent," he mused slowly. "How would a Government
agent know the password?"

Trenchard's mouth fell open. "I had not thought..." he began. Then ended
with an oath. "'Tis a traitor from inside."

Wilding nodded. "It must be one of those who met at White Lackington
three nights ago," he answered.

Idlers--the witnesses of the wedding--were watching them with interest
from the path, and others from over the low wall of the churchyard,
as