"Perhaps so," said Wilton hastily. "Come, Claud, my lad," and he walked straight out, without glancing to right or left, and remained silent till they were crossing Russell Square. "I say, guv'nor," said Claud, who passed his tongue over his lips before speaking, as if they were dry, "you don't think that, do you? It's what the mater said." "No, no, impossible. Of course not. She couldn't. I think, though, we may as well get back," and for the moment he forgot all about the ladder planted against the sill. And as they walked on they were profoundly unconscious of the fact that Garstang's grave elderly clerk was following them at a little distance, and looking in every other direction, his employer having hurried him out with the words: "See where they go." John Garstang then seated himself before the good fire in his private room, and began to think of the interview he had just had, while as he thought he smiled. CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT. Kate gave way most unwillingly, but felt obliged to yield to what she felt was a common-sense view of the question. "If you write now we shall be having endless trouble," said Garstang. "Your uncle will come here, and I shall be compelled to give you up." "But I would refuse to go," said Kate, with spirit. Garstang smiled, and shrugged his shoulders. "Will you give me credit, as an old lawyer, my dear child, for knowing a little of the law?" "Of course," she cried. "Well, let me tell you that if James Wilton finds out where you are, I foresee endless troubles. You know his projects?" Kate nodded quickly. "To compass those plans, he will stop at nothing, even force. But supposing I defeat him in that, for I tell you frankly I should make every effort, he would set the law to work. If I get the best counsel I can, we shall have a long, wearisome lawsuit, and probably your late father's estate will be thrown into Chancery. You will become a ward of the Lord Chancellor, and the inroads made upon your fortune will be frightful." "I don't think I should care," said Kate, looking at him wistfully, "so long as I could be at peace." "Have you thought out any relative or friend whom you feel that you can trust, and to whom you would like to go?" "No; not yet," said Kate, wearily; "and I have tried very hard." "Then don't try, my child," he said, with a smile, "and then perhaps the idea will come. I ought to say, though," he added, playfully, "do try hard, so as not to succeed, for I do not want you to go. It is as if a change had come over my life, and like the man in one of the old plays, I had discovered a long-lost child." "Pray don't treat it lightly, Mr Garstang," said Kate. "All this troubles me terribly. I feel so helpless."