gistrate, "there has been nothing of that kind.
And as for the cupboards, there were but three----"

Three!--then the lad is out of the house, thought the other. But where?

"And I trust you have not spared to break down my servants' rooms, and
the stables as well as pierce all my panelling."

"There was no need to search the stables, Mr. Buxton; our men were round
the house before we entered. They have been watching the entrances since
eight o'clock last night."

Mr. Buxton felt bewildered. His instinct had been right, then, the night
before.

"The party was followed from near Wrotham," went on the magistrate. "The
priest was with them then; and, we suppose, entered the house."

"You suppose!" snapped the other. "What the devil do you mean by
supposing? You have looked everywhere and cannot find him?"

The magistrate shrugged his shoulders deprecatingly, as he stood and
stared at the angry man.

"And the roofs?" added Mr. Buxton sneeringly.

"They have been thoroughly searched."

Then there is but one possible theory, he reflected. The lad is in the
garden-house. And what if they search that?

"Then may I ask what you propose to destroy next, Mr. Graves?"

He saw that this tone was having its effect on the magistrate, who was
but a half-hearted persecutor, with but feeble convictions and will, as
he knew of old.

"I--I entreat you not to speak to me like that, sir," he said. "I have
but done my duty."

Then the other rose from his chair, and his eyes were stern and bright
again and his lips tight.

"Your duty, sir, seems a strange matter, when it leads you to break into
a friend's house, assault him and his servants and his guests, and
destroy his furniture, in search of a supposed priest whom you have never
even seen. Now, sir, if this matter comes to her Grace's ears, I will not
answer for the consequences; for you know Mistress Corbet, her
lady-in-waiting, is one of my guests.--And, speaking of that, where are
my guests?"

"The two ladies, Mr. Buxton, are safe and sound upstairs, I assure you."

The magistrate's voice was trembling.

"Well, sir, I have one condition to offer you. Either you and your men
withdraw within half an hour from my house and grounds, and leave me and
my two guests to ourselves, or else I lay the whole matter, through
Mistress Corbet, before her Grace." Mr. Buxton beat his hand once on the
table as he ended, and looked with a contemptuous inquiry at the
magistrate.

B