er about half an
hour the rain ceased as suddenly as it had commenced, and grandmother
fell asleep. I knew she was all right until the morning, so I left her
for the night.

"As I turned to go to my room, I thought I saw a light in the other
passage, and I went down to see what it was. I thought perhaps Mr.
Penreath might be waiting up reading before going to bed.

"I crept along to the bend of the passage, and looked down it, thinking
perhaps I might see him and speak to him. There was nobody in the
passage, but the door of Mr. Glenthorpe's room was half open and a light
was streaming through it.

"I do not know really what took me to Mr. Glenthorpe's room. I have
tried to think it out clearly since, but I cannot. I know I was
distressed and troubled about Mr. Penreath's presence at the inn, and I
was afraid he would be cross and angry with me for not having told him
the truth about myself. And before that, when I was walking home after
meeting him that afternoon, I had been unhappy about his wanting money,
and wished that I could do something to help him. These thoughts kept
going through my head as I sat with grandmother during the storm.

"When I saw the door of Mr. Glenthorpe's room open, and the light
burning, all these thoughts seemed to come back into my head together. I
remembered how good and kind Mr. Glenthorpe had always been to me. I had
heard my father tell Charles that morning that Mr. Glenthorpe had gone
to the bank at Heathfield that day to draw out a large sum of money to
buy Mr. Cranley's field.

"I think I had a confused idea that I would go and confide in Mr.
Glenthorpe, and ask him to help Mr. Penreath. Perhaps I have not made
myself very clear about this, but I do not remember very clearly myself,
for I acted on a sudden impulse, and ran along the passage quickly, in
case he should shut his door before I got there, because I knew if he
did that I should not have the courage to knock. Through the half-open
door I could see the inside of the room between the door and the window.
It seemed to me to be empty. I gave a little tap at the door, but there
was no reply. It was then I noticed that the bedroom window was wide
open, and that a current of air was blowing into the room and causing
the light behind the door to cast flickering shadows across the room.

"That struck me as strange. I knew Mr. Glenthorpe always used a reading
lamp, and never a candle, and I knew that the reading lamp wouldn't