‘You must allow her time to recover herself,’ said Jasper. ‘Miss Jordan has been up a good part of the night. The horses on the down were driven on the premises by the fire and alarmed her and made her rise. She will be well directly.’ ‘I am already recovered,’ said Barbara, with affected cheerfulness. ‘The room was close. I should like to be left a little bit in the sun and air, by myself, and to myself.’ Eve readily ran back to her burnishing of the gold beads and bezants, and Jasper heard Mr. Jordan calling him, so he went to his room. He found the sick gentleman with clouded brow and closed lips, and eyes that gave him furtive glances but could not look at him steadily. ‘Jasper Babb,’ said Mr. Jordan, ‘I do not wish you to leave the house or its immediate precincts to-day. Jane has not returned, Eve is unreliable, and Barbara overstrained.’ ‘Yes, sir, I will do as you wish.’ ‘On no account leave. Send Miss Jordan to me when she is better.’ When, about half-an-hour after, Barbara entered the room, she went direct to her father to kiss him, but he repelled her. ‘What did you mean,’ he asked, without looking at her, ‘by those words of the Psalm?’ ‘Oh, papa! I thought to soothe you. You are fond of the _De Profundis_—you murmur it in your sleep.’ ‘You used the words significantly. What are the deeds I have done amiss for which you reproach me?’ ‘We all need pardon—some for one thing, some for another. And, dearest papa, we all need to say ‘_Apud te propitiatio est: speravit anima mea in Domino._’ ‘_Propitiatio!_’ repeated Mr. Jordan, and resumed his customary trick of brushing his forehead with his hand as though to sweep cobwebs from it which fell over and clouded his eyes. ‘For what? Say out plainly of what you accuse me. I am prepared for the worst. I cannot endure these covert stabs. You are always watching me. You are ever casting innuendos. You cut and pierce me worse than the scythe. That gashed my body, but you drive your sharp words into my soul.’ ‘My dear papa, you are mistaken.’ ‘I am not mistaken. Your looks and words have meaning. Speak out.’ ‘I accuse you of nothing, darling papa, but of being perhaps just a little unjust to me.’ She soon saw that her presence was irritating him, her protestations unavailing to disabuse his mind of the prejudice that had taken hold of it, and so, with a sigh, she left him. Jane Welsh did not return all day. This was strange. She had promised Barbara to return the first thing in the morning. She was to sleep in Tavistock, where she had a sister, married. Barbara went about her work, but with abstracted mind, and without her usual energy. She was not quite satisfied. She tried to believe in Jasper’s innocence, and yet doubts would rise in her mind in spite of her efforts to keep them under.