"Not yet, dear uncle, I beseech you," replied Susan. "Dr. Barnes has given them some soothing medicine which will probably induce sleep; they must not be disturbed for some hours. Moreover, I want you for a brief time all to myself; I have something to tell you which troubles me." "Really!" said Sir John, as he stooped down and kissed her cheek, "I always thought that you and trouble were far apart!" "Let us go back into the library," said his niece; "we shall be undisturbed there." "This sounds serious!" said Sir John. "It is serious—or at least I fear so," replied Susan. Once more in the library, the Treasurer seated himself in one of the great leather chairs, and Susan, bringing a footstool to his side, sat down beside him. The two made a striking picture. Sir John's noble and pensive face was lighted up by a gentle and loving smile as he gazed down on his niece's fair face. This morning she had not tied her hair, and the long golden locks fell in rich profusion over her shoulders. Her morning gown was simplicity itself; its pure whiteness was unrelieved by colour but for a waistband of blue silk; she wore no ornament save that on her shapely finger a ring beset with diamonds glittered in the sunlight—it was surely a love gift! "Now, Susan, for your revelation," said Sir John, as he took her little hand and held it caressingly. "You remember, dear uncle," began Susan, "how Ralph came to us at Chiddingly last Sunday week, intending to pass at least ten days with us? Well, he left us on Wednesday night, at which I marvelled." "So did I," interpolated Sir John. "I must tell you," continued the fair girl, "that on that Sunday morning a messenger brought me a letter from Mr. Geoffrey Fynes." "Ah! ah!" said Sir John, "this grows interesting." Susan blushed prettily as she looked into her uncle's face, and shook her head reprovingly. "Oh, uncle, you must be serious; I think you will be so when I have told you all!" "Go on, my child," said Sir John gravely. "Well, I have the letter here; I meant to show it to you last night; please read it." The Treasurer took the letter, and as he read it his face assumed an increased expression of gravity. "And did the Pursuivant come—only to find the Vicarage empty?" "No," said Susan, "and that is my trouble! I showed the letter to Ralph, little thinking that any harm would ensue from my doing so. "On the Wednesday, when I expected to see the Queen's officer, Ralph was absent from home all day, and on making inquiries I found he had gone on horseback into the woods. "I began to be anxious, and I made inquiries about him in the stables and elsewhere. Then I found to my alarm that many of our young men were missing from Chiddingly that day. "Ralph returned home in the afternoon, but he would tell me nothing— 'these were not women's matters,' he said. That same night he took the road for London." "And since then have you heard nothing?" said Sir John eagerly.