"Miss Dorothy! be brave, and make no noise! We are in Farmer Parker's yard; and this is a barn." Then the terror came over me. "Let us turn back," I said. "You are right. One may bear one's own troubles, but not drag in other people. Take me home!" But Robert would not take me home; and my courage came back, and I held the lantern whilst he unfastened the door. Then the ghastly hand passed into the barn, and we followed it. "It has stopped in the far corner," I said. "There seems to be wood or something." "It's bundles of wood," he whispered. "I know the place. Sit down, and tell me if it moves." I sat down, and waited long and wearily, while he moved heavy bundles of firewood, pausing now and then to ask, "Is it here still?" At last he asked no more; and in a quarter of an hour he only spoke once: then it was to say-- "This plank has been moved." After a while he came away to look for a spade. He found one, and went back again. At last a smothered sound made me spring up and rush to him; but he met me, driving me back. "I beg of you, dear Miss Dorothy, keep away. Have you a handkerchief with you?" I had one, and gave it to him. His hands were covered with earth. He had only just gone back again when I gave a cry-- "Robert! _It has gone!_" He came up to me, keeping one hand behind him. "Miss Dorothy, if ever you were good and brave, hold out now!" I beat my hands together--"It has gone! It has gone!" "It has not gone!" he said. "Master Edmund's hand is in this handkerchief. It has been buried under a plank of the flooring!" I gasped, "Let me see it!" But he would not. "No, no! my dear lady, you must not--cannot. I only knew it by the ring!" Then he made me sit down again, whilst he replaced the firewood; and then, with the utmost quietness, we set out to return, I holding the lantern in one hand, and with the other clinging to his arm (for the apparition that had been my guide before was gone), and he carrying the awful relic in his other hand. Once, as we were leaving the yard, he whispered-- "Look!" "I see nothing," said I. "Hold up your lantern," he whispered. "There is nothing but the dog-kennel," I said. "Miss Dorothy," he said, "_the dog has not barked tonight!_" By the time we reached home, my mind had fully realized the importance of our discovery, and the terribly short time left us in which to profit by it, supposing, as I fully believed, that it was the first step to the vindication of George's innocence. As we turned into the gate, Robert, who had been silent for some time broke out-- "Miss Dorothy! Mr. George Manners is as innocent as I am; and God forgive us all for doubting him! What shall we do?" "I am going up to town," I said, "and you are going with me. We will go to Dr. Penn. He has a lodging close by the prison: I have the address. At eight o'clock to-morrow the king himself could not undo this injustice. We have, let me see, how many hours?"