bundled that De Louvisan out of the house; my head seemed full of fire,
and I simply couldn't. I got away as soon as I decently could, and went
upstairs to my own room. I couldn't stop there, either; the stillness
and the loneliness half maddened me and set me to thinking and thinking
until I thought my head would burst. So, in sheer desperation, I caught
up a cap, sneaked down the back stairs, and let myself out. Nobody saw
me go, and, thank God, nobody saw me return, either. I walked about the
Common for heaven knows how long before I turned round at the sound of
some one coming toward me through the mist, and the next thing I knew I
'bumped' smack into that person, and found it to be my stepmother."

"Lady Clavering?" said the girl in a tone of the utmost surprise--and
Cleek could have blessed her for the words, since they voiced an inquiry
upon a subject which he much desired to have explained. "You mean to say
that Lady Clavering was out there on the Common, away from her guests?
What could have impelled her to take such a step--and at such a time?"

"She had come in search of me, she said. She felt anxious, distressed,
afraid, so she said, that I would do something desperate, and went to my
room to talk with me. When she found it empty she jumped to the
conclusion that I had gone out for the purpose of following De Louvisan
and meeting him somewhere for the mere satisfaction of thrashing him.
She begged and implored me to come back to the Close; to do nothing
rash; to think of my father; to remember her; to be careful to do
nothing that would get your name mixed up in a vulgar brawl. And she
wouldn't leave me until I promised her on my word of honour that I would
make no effort to find De Louvisan. When I did that, she was satisfied
and went back to the Close."

In the darkness of the stone staircase Cleek puckered up his brows and
thoughtfully pinched his chin.

Oho! so that was the explanation of her ladyship's presence on the
Common last night, was it? Mere solicitude for the welfare of a beloved
stepson, eh? Hum-m-m! Rather disappointing, to say the least of it, to
find that she had no more connection with the case than just that. After
all, she was merely "a red herring drawn across the trail," eh? He
shouldn't have thought so, but, of course, if young Clavering spoke the
truth, that eliminated _her_ from the affair altogether. Odd that she
should have bribed the Common keeper not to say a word about having