Laurence paused a moment, gazing down at the worn drugget between his feet. "Look here," he said, "either you are talking great nonsense, or there is something uncommonly serious at the bottom of all this, of which I ought to be informed. Tell me plainly, what are you afraid of?" "There, there are lights all night." "Certainly there are. The electric light is left on. It is a fancy of my uncle's--and not an unreasonable one in time of illness. If your fears take their rise in nothing worse than that, why--" Laurence shrugged his shoulders. "Oh! but--but--" Mr. Beal's voice sunk to a whisper, and his pale eyes looked piteously upon his guest from behind his spectacles. "It is commonly reported there is a female in the house----" Laurence shook his head.--"Oh, no, pardon me," he said. "That is a mistake. There are only men-servants in the house. That I know. No lady has stayed at Stoke Rivers--so my uncle informed me--since my mother stayed there with me when I was quite a small boy." "But--but," poor Walter Beal almost wailed, "I don't mean any lady visitor. The--the Scarlet Woman--you know. I understand the keepers have frequently seen her at night at the windows downstairs. And I believe I saw her once this winter myself----" "Saw her yourself?" "Yes; I had been to call and inquire for Mr. Rivers. It was dusk, and I was much alarmed at going; but I would not permit myself to neglect a duty. I was going back up the avenue, when I saw a person in a red dress coming out from the bow-window. I--I--I--I--did not wait--" Laurence had risen. He stood for a moment speechless. Then a sudden gladness took him. The sun was bright outside there, but the yew-trees waved their dusky arms quaintly, making little shadows dance and flit upon the churchyard grass. "No--I see. You ran away," he said. "Well, Mr. Beal, perhaps that was the very best thing under the circumstances that you could have done.--You can't make up your mind to dine with me? All right, I'll come and see you then. We'll let the parish know you and I are on excellent terms anyhow. I should be glad to have a talk with you about the schools and charities. And, of course, if Mr. Rivers should soften and express any willingness to receive your ministrations I'll not fail to let you know." On reaching the house, Laurence went straight down the corridor, pulled aside the tapestry curtain, and entered the room beyond. As yesterday, it was fresher in atmosphere than the rest of the interior. The furniture, the knick-knacks, even the little frill in the open work-box were stationary, untouched, precisely in the same position as last night. Again Laurence examined the room carefully. Very certainly there was no exit from it save the door or the bay-window, and no human being in it save himself. IX