Margery and the nurse saw the strangers step into a little alcove, and shortly after Clare came from the house and joined them. The watchers could only discern the figures, not the faces, but they heard the chink of gold as Clare handed something to the man. "Here are twenty-five pounds," she said, "all I have at present, but I will do my best for you if you will wait a little. I may be wrong in giving you this, but, if you are really my father—" "Do you doubt it, pretty one, after all I have told you?" "I don't know what to believe," said Clare, in a tone of distress. "You say you deceived dear mamma with a tale of your death, because you wanted me to be brought up in her beautiful home and have a child's place here, and you knew she would not adopt me if she thought you were living." "That is true, dear child," replied the man, softly. "I had not been the best of men or of husbands to your poor mother, but I wanted my Clare to have what I could not give her. I loved you dearly, and I always meant to reclaim you some day. It would be hard for me to be deprived of you now, when I can have but few years to live, and I have a home, though a very humble one compared to Monks Lea. Besides, now you are a grown-up young lady, some suitor may be seeking your hand, and that shall not be given without your father's sanction." The girl gave a cry of distress when she heard this, but the man answered it by a mocking laugh. "What! Is there already a favoured one? Then no time must be lost. As to this trifling sum you have given me, child, it is not worth naming. If Mrs. Austin wishes for your society now, she will have to pay for it, and only retain it on my terms." "You could not be so wicked as to take me from her," said Clare, in an agonized tone; "and to want money, when I owe so many happy years to her and Margery. I will leave Monks Lea and all—yes, all it holds—rather than be used as a means of threatening her or extorting money from her." Here spoke Clare's nobler nature, and Margery rejoiced that she was at hand to hear it. But she and Clare were alike unprepared for what followed. "You are right, my child, and I will take you at your word," said the man; and, seizing Clare, he threw a thick shawl over her head, and with the help of his companion was going to drag her away. But in a moment Barbara's tall figure was behind him, and she pinioned the man with her strong arms, whilst she called aloud for help. This came sooner than she expected, in the shape of two of the gamekeepers, who were on their rounds. Amongst them they secured the man, but the female had managed to make her escape. Clare was supported to the house in an almost fainting state and taken to her room. As soon as Barbara saw the face of the prisoner in a full light, she exclaimed, "This is not Miss Clare's father; I have seen Mr. Edward Austin too often to be mistaken."