They suspended their work as they listened. It is probable that not a single incident was mentioned that the Miss Fauntleroys had not heard before; but the circumstances altogether were of that nature that bear hearing--ay, and telling--over and over again, as most mysteries do. Their chief curiosity turned--it was only natural it should--on Mr. Hardcastle, and they asked a great many questions. "I would have scoured the whole country but what I'd have found him," cried Barbara. "Genoa! Rely upon it, he and his wife turned their faces in just the contrary direction as soon as they left Geneva. A nice pair." "Do you think," asked Lucy, in her quiet manner, raising her eyes to Mrs. Dundyke, "that Mr. Hardcastle followed him for the purpose of attacking and robbing him?" "Ah, my dear, I cannot tell. It is a question that I often ask myself. I feel inclined to think that he did not. One thing I seem nearly sure of--that he did not intend to injure him. I have not the least doubt that Mr. Hardcastle was at his wit's end for money to pay his hotel bill, and that the thirty pounds my poor husband mentioned as having received that morning, was an almost irresistible temptation. There's no doubt he followed him to the borders of the lake; that he induced him, by some argument, to walk away with him, across the country; but whether he did this with the intention of----" "Did Mr. Dundyke not clear this up after his return?" interrupted Lizzie Fauntleroy. "Never clearly; his recollections remained so confused. I have thought at times, that the crime only came with the opportunity," continued Mrs. Dundyke, reverting to what she was saying. "It is possible that the heat of the day and the long walk, though why Mr. Hardcastle should have caused him to take that long walk, unless he had ulterior designs, I cannot tell--may have overpowered my husband with a faintness, and Mr. Hardcastle seized the opportunity to rifle his pocket-book." "You seem to be more lenient in your judgment of Mr. Hardcastle than I should be," observed Lizzie Fauntleroy. "I have thought of it so long and so often, that I believe I have grown to judge of the past impartially," was Mrs. Dundyke's answer. "At first I was very much incensed against the man; I am not sure but I thought hanging too good for him; but I grew by degrees to look at it more reasonably." "And the pencil?" "He must have taken it from the pocket-book in his hurry, when he took the money. That he did it all in haste, the not finding the two half-notes for fifty pounds proves." "Suppose Mr. Dundyke had returned to Geneva the next day and confronted him. What then?" "Ah, I don't know. Mr. Hardcastle relied, perhaps, upon being able to make good his own story, and he knew that David had the most unbounded faith in him." "Well, take it in its best light--that Mr. Dundyke fainted from the heat of the sun--the man must have been a brute to leave him alone," concluded Lizzie Fauntleroy.