version of the affair, sprang up, declaring he must go down and hear how
it was that the dogs were loose, and had got upon the man's track.

Off he rushed, leaving Marjorie to go downstairs and see how Estelle
was. She found Miss Leigh had been looking for her for a long time, and
was not in the best of tempers in consequence. Estelle was better, but
the doctor desired she should be kept in bed for the remainder of that
day, and not run about much for a day or two. No one could understand
the cause of the fainting fit, and Marjorie was called upon to explain
what they had been doing. They had been playing in the passages, she
said, and were on the tower stairs when the dogs burst in. Estelle was
frightened, and had rushed into the corridor, and when Marjorie and Alan
followed her, she was found lying on the floor. It all sounded very
simple. But Marjorie felt very mean and uneasy about the concealment;
she felt that it was as bad as telling a lie, and only her promise to
Alan, rashly given, kept her from disclosing everything.

'The whole business is most mysterious,' said Colonel De Bohun, in a
tone of annoyance. 'How it came about that there was a strange man--a
tramp, I suppose--wandering so near the house, I cannot imagine. Thomas
saw him, and so did James, most luckily; and Thomas was wise enough to
give chase at once, but the rascal seems to have escaped him. He was a
nimble sort of a fellow, James says, and it seems that the moment the
grooms got wind of it, they let the dogs loose. Lucky none of them were
hurt.'

'So this was the way Thomas managed!' thought Marjorie. 'What a sharp
fellow he is! Oh, if Father only knew!'

'Has the man gone?' asked Lady Coke, anxiously.

'I should think so. We can't find him, at all events. He knows all the
men are on the alert, so I think you are safe, I will remain here if you
are nervous.'

It was considered better that he should remain, Lady Coke being old and
very frail in spite of her activity and energy of character. Miss Leigh
was to take the children home, and explain all that had occurred to Mrs.
De Bohun, who was laid up with a cold.

(_Continued on page 94._)

[Illustration: "Alan began the story of his adventure."]

[Illustration: "The luckless fugitives were dragged forth."]

STORIES FROM AFRICA.

III.--THE STORY OF A CAPTIVE.

'Captive among the Moors.' These words used once to account for many a
sad gap in the families of southern Europe. We