ay I wash my face?" Grantly asked meekly.

This accomplished, he went downstairs and drank the cup of tea Eloquent
had provided for him. His host lent him a bicycle and speeded him on
his way. At the door Grantly paused to say in a mumbling voice: "I
don't know, sir, why you've been so awfully decent to me, but will you
remember this? that if ever I can do anything for you, it would be very
generous of you to tell me--will you remember this?"

"I will remember," said Eloquent.

As Grantly rode away Eloquent was filled with self-reproach, for he had
not said one word either of warning or rebuke, and he had been brought
up to believe in the value of "the word in season."

Grantly pedalled as hard as he could through the dark deserted roads,
and though his head was racking and he felt, as he put it, "like
nothing on earth," he covered the five miles between Marlehouse and
Redmarley in under half an hour. He went round to the side door and
felt for the key, as he hoped to slip in without meeting any of the
servants who were, he saw by stray lights, just astir.

That key was nowhere to be found.

He tried every pocket in his overcoat, his tail coat, his white
waistcoat, his trousers, all in vain. That key was gone; lost!

There was nothing for it but to try Mary's window. Parker slept in her
room, but Parker would never bark at any member of the family. All the
bedroom windows at Redmarley were lattice, and Mary's, at the back of
the house on the first floor, stood open about a foot.

"Parker," Grantly called softly, "Parker, old chap, rouse her up and
ask her to let me in."

An old wistaria grew under the window with thick knotted stems.
Grantly climbed up this, and although it was very dark he was aware of
something dimly white at the window. Parker, much longer in the leg
than any well-bred fox-terrier has a right to be, was standing on his
hind legs thrusting his head out in silent welcome.

"Go and rouse her up, old chap," Grantly whispered. "I want her to
open the window wide enough for me to get through."

All the windows at the Manor House, open or shut, had patent catches
that it was impossible to undo from the outside.

He heard Parker jump on Mary's bed and probably lick her face, then a
sleepy "What is it, old dog, what's the matter?" and a soft movement as
Mary raised herself on her elbow and switched on the light.

"Mary," in a penetrating whisper, "let me in, I've lost that confounded
ke