"Did you wonder, sir, what possessed her," Gloody went on, "when she burst out singing? That was a signal to me. We wanted him out of our way, while you were made to drink what he had drunk out of the jug." "How did you know that he would not drink the whole contents of the jug?" "You forget, sir, that I had seen the dog revived by two doses, given with a space of time between them." I ought to have remembered this, after what he had already told me. My intelligence brightened a little as I went on. "And your accident in the next room was planned, of course?" I said. "Do you think he saw through it? I should say, No; judging by his looks. He turned pale when he felt the floor shaken by your fall. For once in a way, he was honest--honestly frightened." "I noticed the same thing, sir, when he picked me up, off the floor. A man who can change his complexion, at will, is a man we hav'n't heard of yet, Mr. Roylake." I had been dressing for some time past; longing to see Cristel, it is needless to say. "Is there anything more," I asked, "that I ought to know?" "Only one thing, Mr. Roylake, that I can think of," Gloody replied. "I'm afraid it's Miss Cristel's turn next." "What do you mean?" "While the deaf man lodges at the cottage, he means mischief, and his eye is on Miss Cristel. Early this morning, sir, I happened to be at the boat-house. Somebody (I leave you to guess who it is) has stolen the oars." I was dressed by this time, and so eager to get to the cottage, that I had already opened my door. What I had just heard brought me back into the room. As a matter of course, we both suspected the same person of stealing the oars. Had we any proof to justify us? Gloody at once acknowledged that we had no proof. "I happened to look at the boat," he said, "and I missed the oars. Oh, yes; I searched the boat-house. No oars! no oars!" "And nothing more that you have forgotten, and ought to tell me?" "Nothing, sir." I left Gloody to wait my return; being careful to place him under the protection of the upper servants--who would see that he was treated with respect by the household generally. CHAPTER XV THE MILLER'S HOSPITALITY On the way to Toller's cottage, my fears for Cristel weighed heavily on my mind. That the man who had tried to poison me was capable of committing any other outrage, provided he saw a prospect of escaping with impunity, no sane person could hesitate to conclude. But the cause of my alarm was not to be traced to this conviction. It was a doubt that made me tremble. After what I had myself seen, and what Gloody had told me, could I hope to match my penetration, or the penetration of any person about me whom I could trust, against the fathomless cunning, the Satanic wickedness, of the villain who was still an inmate with Cristel, under her father's roof?