"But you're a good-looking Johnnie, my dear Dick," my friend declared, laughing; "and she's certainly not the first woman who has fallen over head and ears in love with you." "You're devilish complimentary, old chap," I answered; "but if she is, as you think, really attracted towards me, then she'll have a cruel awakening when she finds that I'm actually the husband of her cousin Feo." "That's just what I've been thinking," he replied, with a serious expression on his face. "Your position is an exceedingly difficult one, and the inquiries must be made with the utmost tact and care. At all hazards you must humour her ladyship, and retain her as your friend. Indeed if, as you say, your wife is not aware that you are actually her husband, then it might not be a bad plan to flatter her ladyship by making violent love to her." "I can't, Bob," I declared. "In this matter I must at least act straightforwardly. Feo has fallen a victim, just as I myself have-- that's evident." "You were entrapped, it's true; but I take it that you really admire this mysterious Feo?" "Admire her!" I cried with enthusiasm. "That's the most curious feature of the whole affair. I freely confess to you, my dear fellow, that not only do I admire her, but I'm madly in love with her! She's the most graceful and beautiful woman I've ever beheld." "Well, Dick," he observed after a pause, during which time he puffed vigorously at his big briar, "you are about the last man I should have suspected of having a romance. Every detail of it is, however, bewildering. It's a perfect maze of mystery--a mystery absolutely incredible!" CHAPTER TEN. THE MAJOR. On the following day I was seized by a burning desire to again see the woman whom I had so strangely grown to love. Time after time I discussed the matter with Bob, and he was full of my opinion that I might, by watching my wife's movements, discover some fact which might give me a clue. I proposed to Bob that I should go straight to her and make a full explanation, but he urged patience and diplomacy. "Go down to Whitton and watch her at a distance, if you like," he answered. "But be very careful that you are not recognised. No man cares to be spied upon. In this matter you must exercise the greatest discretion, if you really intend to get to the bottom of this puzzling affair." "I do intend to solve the enigma," I declared. "If I'm ten years over it, I mean to claim Feo as my wife." "You can't do that until you've obtained absolute proof." "And, in the meantime, Wynd and his accomplice may make another attempt upon her life," I observed dubiously. "Forewarned is forearmed," he answered. "It seems your duty to act in secret as her protector." "Exactly. That's my object in going down to Whitton. Somehow I feel sure that her life is insecure, for the facts plainly show that Wynd's motive was to get rid of her."