“It’s a good idea, if well worked out. But there’s no finesse in it. It’s too simple, if it has any fault. And the girl may see through it, although that’s not likely. People who are guileless themselves are not apt to suspect guile in others. We shall have no difficulty with her. The only one who can balk our plans is that obstinate boy of mine, whom I have not seen since he shut himself up in his chamber. I must know his decision before I move a step further in this business. Of course he will yield to me; he has never dared pit his will against mine, and say to my face that he would not obey me. Poor weak coward! If he dares cling to that girl he married, I’ll risk the exposure and disgrace, and have the marriage legally set aside on the ground of his minority. By Heaven, if he dares to beard me, he shall find me a very tiger!” He set his teeth together and his breath came hissingly between them as he strode heavily along the village street and approached the Wyndham inn. He saw that his own rooms were lighted, and that the room that he had assigned his son was dark. The fear came to him that Rufus had stolen away and returned to his young wife with the mad idea of flying with her, and, with a muttered curse upon the boy, he hurried into the inn and sped swiftly up the stairs, halting at his son’s door, with his hand on the knob. It did not yield to his touch. The door was locked from within. Rufus must be within that darkened chamber, and as this conviction came to him Craven Black recovered all his coolness and self-possession. He crossed the hall into his own room and procured a lighted lamp, and then returned and knocked loudly on his son’s door. No voice answered him. No sound came from within the room. “Can he have committed suicide?” Craven Black asked himself, with a sudden fluttering at his heart. “He was desperate enough, but I hardly think he could have been such a fool as that.” He shook the door loudly, but eliciting no reply, he stooped to the key-hole, and cried, in a clear, hissing whisper: “Rufus, open this door, or I’ll break it in! I’ll arouse the whole house. Quick, I say! Be lively!” There was a faint stir within the room, as if a tortured wild beast were sluggishly turning in his cage, and then an unsteady step crossed the floor, and an unsteady hand groped feebly about the door, seeking the key. The bolt suddenly shot back, and then the unsteady steps retreated a few paces. Craven Black opened the door and entered the room, closing the portal behind him. He set down his lamp, and his light eyes then sought out the form of his son.