Tarleton nodded assent, but Joscelyn laughingly interposed, "Nay, good captain, your boots show the effects of the weather; it would grieve my mother's housewifely heart to know they were leaving their impress upon her carpets. Wait here and guard the stair--are we three not enough to capture one?" She pointed as she spoke from herself and Tarleton to his orderly who had been standing at attention just inside the door. "I take it, Colonel Tarleton, that we shall be sufficient?" He bowed; and thrusting her knitting into her pocket, she moved out of the room, followed by the officer and his orderly. "Mother, look you to the comfort of these other guests; I shall return presently." There was a threat in Barry's eyes as they met Tarleton's in a fleeting glance; but he merely saluted in silence as that officer passed out. One day Tarleton should pay for this needless offence to a girl so unprotected and so beautiful. It was most evident from her bearing to see that she had nothing to fear from an investigation. Yes, one day he should pay for it. In the hall Joscelyn stopped to pick up the key-basket and the one candle in its tall brass candlestick. Thus did she leave the lower hall unlighted save from the open parlour door, for she wanted no radiance thrown upward to the story above. She talked unceasingly as they mounted the steps, raising her voice presumably to over-top the noise of the heavy boots, but really as a warning to the man hiding above. Not for a moment did she allow herself to consider the probably fatal outcome of this search. She needed every faculty of mind and body to meet the moments as they came. In the narrow upper entry she paused and lifted her candle; a few chairs, a spinning-wheel, and a table formed its only furniture. A cat could scarcely have hidden there. "Proceed, I pray you," said Tarleton, after one glance around. Three doors opened on this passage; the nearest of these, which was the one toward the front, she threw open. The white bed, the frilled curtains, the dainty toilet articles upon the dresser, were heralds enough to proclaim the occupant. Even Tarleton hesitated. "To search here were useless." "Nay, sir; I insist that you carry out your instructions." She placed the candle on the table and waited haughtily while the inspection was made, nodding toward the wardrobe, "Open the doors and see if Betty Clevering knew whereof she spoke." "There is no one here," said Tarleton, following her instructions, his big hand looking awkward enough among the pretty feminine garments. She picked up the light and opened the connecting door to her mother's room. Tarleton went with her first, however, nodding to the orderly to return by way of the passage, that none might creep by that means from the rear. "An excellent precaution; I had not thought of it," said Joscelyn, detecting the unspoken order.