'ATHELSTAN ARUNDEL.' The letter was dated, but no address was given. The post-mark was Idaho, which, as we all know, belongs to a Western State. He looked into the envelope. There fell out a paper, which was a draft on a well-known London Firm, payable to his order for twelve thousand and fifty pounds. 'This is very unbusiness-like,' said Mr. Dering. 'He puts all this money into my hands, and vanishes. These are the ways he learns in America, I suppose. Puts the money blindly in my hands without giving me the means of communicating with him. Then he vanishes. How could he prove that it was a Trust? Well, if I could only think--but I cannot--the circumstantial evidence is too strong--that the boy was innocent--I should be very sorry for him. As for Elsie--she must be eighteen now--about eighteen--she will get this windfall in three years or so. It will be a wonderful lift for her. Perhaps it may make all the difference in her future! If I could only think that the boy was innocent--a clever lad, too--which makes his guilt more probable. But I can't--no--I can't. Either Checkley or that boy--and Checkley couldn't do it. He couldn't if he were to try. What did the boy do it for? And what did he do with the notes?' CHAPTER I UP THE RIVER 'Can you not be content, George?' asked the girl sitting in the stern. 'I think that I want nothing more than this. If we could only go on always, and always, and always, just like this.' She had taken off her right-hand glove, and she was dipping her fingers into the cool waters of the river as the boat slowly drifted down stream. 'Always like this,' she repeated softly. 'With you close to me--so that I could touch you if I wanted to--so that I could feel safe, you know--the sun behind us, warm and splendid, such a sweet and fragrant air about us, trees and gardens and fields and lanes on either side--and both of us always young, George, and--and nice to look at, and all the world before us.'