it had been a jest and asked that the return of the rings might
close the incident. I have not spoken of it since, nor has she, until
to-night."

There was a long silence, and then Lord Grimsby spoke.

"Your manner carries conviction, Lord Farquhart, but Mr. Ashley's tale
sounds true. Perchance some prank is at the bottom of all this, but
you will pardon me if I but fulfill my duty to the crown. The case
shall be conducted with all speed, but until your name is cleared, or
until we find the perpetrator of the joke, if joke it be, I must hold
you prisoner."

There was a short scuffle, a sharp clash of arms. But these came from
Lord Farquhart's friends. Lord Farquhart himself stood as though
stunned. He walked away as though he were in a dream, and not until he
was safely housed under bolt and bar in the sheriff's lodge could he
even try to sift the matter to a logical conclusion.

For an instant only did he wonder if Barbara and Ashley had chosen
this way to rid themselves of him. He remembered with a gleam of
triumph Barbara's disdainful manner toward Ashley when he had stepped
to her side, vouching for the truth of her statement. He remembered,
too, that Barbara had had short moments of kindness toward him in the
last few days, that there had been moments when she had been exceeding
sweet to him; when he had even hoped that he was, indeed, winning her
love.

Then, like a flash, he remembered Sylvia's presence under the trees
that afternoon. Undoubtedly Barbara had seen her, and if Barbara had
grown to care for him ever so little, she would have resented bitterly
a thing like that. That might have been the insult to which she
referred. But the crime! Of what crime had he been guilty? Assuredly
she did not believe, herself, the tale she had told. She did not
believe that he was this highwayman.

Here Lord Farquhart caught a gleam of light. Ashley might have
convinced her that such a tale was true. Ashley might have arranged
the highway robbery and might have placed the jewels in his coat to
throw the guilt on him. Ashley was undoubtedly at the bottom of the
whole thing. Then he remembered Ashley's flush when the gauntlet had
been referred to. Had Ashley kept the gauntlet, then?

Following fast upon this question was another flash of light even
brighter than the first. To Farquhart the truth seemed to stand out
clear and transparent. Ashley was the gentleman of the highways!
Ashley was the Black Devil. Farquhart