WHAT the precise signification was of the "whew!" which the gentlemanly Tom had uttered, I did not know; but it seemed to indicate that he was not particularly pleased to learn that I had been a visitor at the house. I felt that there was work for me to do, which I could commence at once by following out the clew afforded me by Mrs. Loraine's visitor. My first business was to ascertain who this gentleman was. Doubtless any one in the house could tell me. Probably Kate knew all about him, and I was all the more eager to see her. I walked down to the pier in a brown study. Mrs. Loraine had positively refused to let me see Kate, at the present time or in the future. She was again confined to her room, not to leave it, I judged, for weeks, unless I put my plan of intervention into execution. Her oppressor was away, and the present seemed to be the most favorable time for releasing the captive. "Come, Ernest, are you going home, or not?" called Bob, who was getting impatient at my delay. "Not yet, Bob; there is something for us to do before we go." "What's that?" "I don't intend to leave Miss Kate here." "I don't see what we can do about it," said he. "I haven't any idea of leaving her to the tender mercies of that tigress. She shall be a passenger in the Splash," I added, as I stepped into the boat, and sat down in the standing-room. "I want to see her for my own sake as well as hers. I've had an idea since you left me." "An idea?" queried he. "Yes, a big idea. You know my story as well as I know it myself, and I don't mean to keep anything from you." "What's up, Ernest?" "I want to know who and what I am; and I'm going to find out, if there is any such thing. I told you about a well-dressed fellow who has been to the cottage of my uncle several times." "I remember all about him. He quarrelled with your uncle, you said." "That's the man. Well, Bob, the fellow that drove up in that two-horse buggy, as we came out of the house, was the very one who came to the cottage." "Is that so?" "That's so." "Does he live in Cannondale?" "I don't know where he lives. I heard Mrs. Loraine call him Tom, and that's all I know about him. I'm going to find out who he is." "If you can." "Kate must know who he is, for he seems to be a regular visitor at the house of Mrs. Loraine." "Well, what are you going to do about it?" "I'm going to get Kate out of the house." "How, Ernest?" "I don't exactly know yet, but I shall find a way." "Don't you think that would be rather high-handed?" "I can't help it if it is. I would just as lief raise a breeze over here as not." "We shall get into a scrape, Ernest." "I won't drag you into it, Bob. You may stay on the boat--" "No, I won't! I'm ready to take my share in the enterprise." "I'm satisfied this girl is abused, and it would be mean in us to leave her to her fate. It's nearly dark now, and there isn't any one in the garden. I'm going up to take a look. Kate said her room was in the attic."