"Yes," replied Madelaine, "and I am in mortal dread lest Mr. Field should hear of him being in England, and give information which might lead to his immediate conviction. Until yesterday, I myself believed him to have perished in the waters, and we have only just been restored to one another again. Like yourself, Ben, he has lately come to see things differently, and has made up his mind to return to California at once, so as to give himself up voluntarily before a magistrate. I am counting more than I can say on the few precious days that remain for us to be together on the voyage, and I think I should break my heart if he was snatched away from me now." "Never you fear," was the answer, as Ben took his departure. "I’m your friend to the backbone, Mrs. Power, and sorry should I be to harm you either by word or deed." It would, however, have disturbed Madelaine greatly had she known that Green’s first act on leaving her was to walk straight to the Vicarage, where he requested a few moments’ conversation with the clergyman, who was also a Justice of the Peace. She would have been still more anxious had she seen the two men set out almost at once in the direction of Farncourt. "Are the American gentlemen still with Mr. Field?" asked Ben, as the butler opened the door. "That’s lucky," he remarked to the vicar, on receiving an answer in the affirmative. "I thought I recognized Elihu Pratt as he motored past. He was pointed out to me one day in New York as one of the rising men. I’m glad he’s still here, for he may be useful to us." Thus it was, that as Mr. Field uttered the words recorded in the last chapter, the door of the study opened, and the vicar and Benjamin Green entered the room. "Why, here is the very man we wanted," said Judge Simmons, as the servant announced the new-comers. "He may be able to throw light not only on the document before us, but on the astounding statement which Mr. Field has just made. Mr. Green, would you first kindly tell us whether you can identify this signature as yours?" "Yes, that is my handwriting," replied Ben, as he laid down the paper, "and I see the other witness is Walter Long." "Mr. Field has just informed us that this same Walter Long was murdered by Gerald Barker, the man in whose name the deed is made out, and that Barker threw himself into the river in dismay at having committed such a crime," continued the judge. "Discrepancies, however, seem to multiply as we proceed further. The document, which purports to be a transfer of Barker’s land to Thomas Algernon Field, is dated the day after that which Field himself gave to Barker’s wife as the one on which her husband was drowned. If Gerald Barker killed Walter Long, how then is his victim’s signature found here also?"