l every groom,
washerwoman, and chambermaid within a fifty-mile radius will have read
exactly what the interior of your home is like, exactly what you wore
when "our representative" called, and will know a good deal more about
you than you ever knew about yourself.

"Begging pardon, madam, but a gentleman----" began Johnston, but was
suffered to get no further.

"If it is a reporter I will not see him," interrupted his mistress with
a decisive wave of the hand. "You know very well that your master and
Mr. Harry have gone over to the scene of the abominable affair to
ascertain if there is or is not any likelihood of its being a case of
mistaken identity; and you ought to know better, Johnston, than to admit
strangers of any sort during their absence."

"Your pardon, madam, but nobody has called--at least at the door,"
replied Johnston with grave politeness. "The gentleman in question is
asking over the telephone to speak with Miss Lorne."

"With me?" exclaimed Ailsa, turning around in the recess of the big bay
window of the morning room where she had been standing with her arm
about Lady Katharine Fordham and looking anxiously down the drive which
led to the Grange gates. "Did you say that somebody was asking over the
telephone for _me_, Johnston? Thank you! I will answer the call
directly."

"My dear, do you think that wise? Do you think it discreet?" said Mrs.
Raynor rather anxiously. "Consider what risks you run. It may be a
reporter--I am told that they are up to all sorts of tricks--and to be
trapped into giving an interview in spite of one's self---- Dearest, you
must not let yourself be dragged into this abominable affair."

"I think it will be a clever man who can do that against my will--and
over the telephone," replied Ailsa gayly. "I shan't be gone more than a
minute or two, Kathie dear; and while I'm away, you might get your hat
and be ready for a stroll in the grounds when I come back. And you, too,
Mrs. Raynor, if you will. The weather is glorious, and one might as well
spend the time waiting for the General's and Mr. Harry's return in the
open air as cooped up here at half-past nine o'clock on a brilliant
April morning."

"My dear, you are wonderful, positively wonderful," said Mrs. Raynor
admiringly. "How _do_ you maintain your composure under such trying
circumstances? Look at Katharine and me--both of us shaking like the
proverbial aspen leaf and looking as washed out as though neither of us
ha