"But I have not been at home--the Court has been shut up--an absentee landlord is not always to the front in his people's thoughts. In the future, things will be different. Look at me for a moment, Hetty Vincent. You are not well--your cheeks are hollow and your eyes are too bright. Mrs. Everett is persuaded that you carry a secret. If she thinks so, others may think the same. Your aunt also knows." "Aunt is different from me," said Hetty. "She didn't see it done. It don't wear her like it wears me. But I think, sir, now that you have come back, and I am quite certain that I know your true mind, and when I know, too, that you are carrying the burden as well as me, and that we two,"--she paused, her voice broke--"I think, sir," she added, "that it won't wear me so much in the future." "You must on no account be tried. If I resolve to keep the secret of my guilt from all the rest of the world, you must leave the country." "Me leave the country!" cried Hetty--her face became ghastly pale, her eyes brimmed again with tears. "Then you would indeed kill me," she said, with a moan--"to leave you--Mr. Robert, you must guess why I have done all this." "Hush," he said in a harsh tone. He approached the window, where the blind was drawn up. He saw, or fancied he saw--Mrs. Everett's dark figure passing by in the distance. He retreated quickly into the shaded part of the room. "I cannot afford to misunderstand your words," he said, after a pause, "but listen to me, Hetty, you must never allude to that subject again. If I keep this thing to myself I can only do it on condition that you and your husband leave the country. I have not fully made up my mind yet. Nothing can be settled to-night. You had better not stay any longer." Hetty rose totteringly and approached the door. Awdrey took the key from his pocket, and unlocked it for her. As he did so he asked her a question. "You saw everything? You saw the deed done?" "Yes, sir, I saw the stick in your hand, and----" "That is the point I am coming to," said the Squire. "What did I do with the stick?" "You pushed it into the midst of some underwood, sir, about twenty feet from the spot where----" She could not finish her sentence. "Yes," said Awdrey slowly. "I remember that. Has the stick ever been found?" "No, Mr. Robert, that couldn't be." "Why do you say that? The underwood may be cut down at any moment. The stick has my name on it. It may come to light." "It can't, sir--'tain't there. Aunt Fanny and me, we thought o' that, and we went the night after the murder, and took the stick out from where you had put it, and weighted it with stones, and threw it into the deep pond close by. You need not fear that, Mr. Robert." Awdrey did not answer. His eyes narrowed to a line of satisfaction, and a cunning expression came into them, altogether foreign to his face. He softly opened the door, and Hetty passed out, then he locked it again.