as possible. I'll see
Larpent to-night and tell him, and you can go and see the parson about it
to-morrow. You'll find Nonette won't put any obstacles in the way. She's
a good child and does as she's told."

"No, Toby won't mind," Bunny said, with a sudden memory of her quick
surrender flooding his soul. "By Jove, Charlie! You are a good sort to
help me like this. There's no one else that can get things moving as you
can."

"Oh, you can count on me for that," laughed Saltash. "I never was a
drifter. Life is too short. We'll meet again to-morrow then. Come and
dine if you like, and tell me what you've arranged! Good night!" He
turned in his sudden fashion. "Good luck to you!"

He was gone upon the words, vanishing into the larches almost noiselessly
as he had come, and Bunny was left alone.

He stood motionless at the gate for some time longer gazing out over the
quiet, night-wrapt down. There was no elation in his attitude, only a
deep thoughtfulness. He had never understood Charlie though oddly enough
he had always believed in him. But to-night for the first time a curious
doubt pierced his mind--a doubt that recurred again and again, banishing
all sense of exultation. Why had Charlie returned like this? Why was he
so eager to meddle in this affair? Why so recklessly generous? He had a
strong feeling that there was something behind it all, some motive
unrealized, some spur goading him, of which he, Bunny, might not approve
if he came to know of it. He wished he could fathom the matter. It was
unlike Saltash to take so much trouble over anything. He felt as if in
some inexplicable fashion he were being tricked.

He put the thought from him, but he could not drive it away. Just as he
had felt himself baffled a little earlier by Toby, so now he felt the
same inability to comprehend Saltash. He seemed to be groping at a locked
door, feeling and feeling for a key, that always eluded him. And again he
wished that Jake was within reach.

He turned homewards at length, dissatisfied and ill at ease, yet calling
himself a fool for scenting a mystery that did not exist.

CHAPTER XI

SUSPICION

The Graydown Stables were always a model of well-ordered efficiency, and
it had ever been Bunny's pride to show them to his friends. But he
awaited General Melrose and his daughter on the following afternoon in
a mood of some impatience. He had arrived early in the hope of finding
Toby at liberty, but his young _fiancee_