Elithe knew it first and rose to her feet, tottering a little from the cramped position she had been in so long. Paul put out a hand to steady her, but Miss Hansford was before him. She could bear the suspense no longer, and, taking Elithe by the arm, she said: “Where did you know Jack Percy?” “In Samona, as Mr. Pennington; never as Mr. Percy,” was Elithe’s reply, as she left the room, and, going to her chamber, threw herself upon her bed, half crazed with all she had passed through. Clarice fainted, and when she recovered Miss Hansford said to Paul: “Take Clarice home. She is better with her mother.” She wanted to get him away, although she knew he was going from one danger into another. There would be as many questions asked at the Percy cottage as at her own, where people were beginning to gather, coming from every direction, some up the avenue, some across the bridge and the causeway and some across the open space where she had hunted in the darkness for the revolver. “Somebody is sure to find it,” she thought, and watched from the kitchen door all who came that way. “There! God help us!” she moaned, as she saw a man stoop down and pick up something, which he examined carefully. She knew what it was, and went to meet him, holding out her hand. “Give it to me,” she said, and he gave it to her,—a little silver-mounted revolver with “P. R.” engraved upon it. She knew he had seen the lettering and said to him: “It is a mistake, which will be explained. Don’t say you found it.”