"Just in time," he said to himself. "Drowsy dogs! Ha--ha--ha! I wish Dick Linnell were here. I should like the fool to see her go. Hang it! I'd have given Harry Payne fifty to help him on the road if he had asked me. Get rid of her for good, curse her! I'm sick of the whole lot. Eh! What, the devil--" "What are you doing here, Burnett?" said Richard Linnell, crossing the road from the Downs in company with Mellersh. "What am I doing? Taking the air. Did you think I was going to elope in a post-chaise. Hist! don't speak aloud or you'll wake the boys. But, I say--hang it all--have I been humbugged? Was it you then who were going off with Claire, and not Sir Harry Payne?" "Do you want me to horsewhip you, Burnett?" cried Linnell in a low, passionate voice. "Not I. There, don't be cross. I can't help it, if she is going." Linnell turned from him impatiently, but Burnett followed. "Let her go, man. What's the good of worrying about her? Better for both of us." "Come aside," said Mellersh softly. "Here they are." Linnell seemed disposed to stand fast, but Mellersh took his arm. "Look here, my dear boy," he whispered. "You don't want to interfere. Let her go." Linnell turned upon him fiercely, but he yielded to his companion's touch, and they walked on some twenty yards, followed by Burnett, who was laughing to himself and nibbing his hands. "Lucky I heard," he said to himself. "I only want to be satisfied." The steps approaching were not those of a lady and gentleman, but of Lord Carboro' and Barclay, who, in utter ignorance of anyone but the postboys being at hand, stood for a few minutes listening. "Yes, Barclay," said the former. "I could not bear for the poor girl to go without making a step to save her. I'm an old fool, I know, but not the first of my kind. I tell you, asking nothing, expecting nothing, I'd give ten thousand pounds to feel that I had not been deceived in her." "Pay up then, my lord, for I tell you that you have been deceived. Once more: the lady is May Burnett, her sister." "I'm assured that it is Claire Denville, and if it is, Barclay, I'll save her, damme, I will, if I shoot the man." "But, my lord--" "Don't talk to me, sir. I tell you if I saw her going to the church with a fellow like young Linnell I'd give her a handsome present; but I can't bear for such a girl as that to be going wrong." "Unless it was with you, my lord," said Barclay abruptly. "You confounded rascal! How dare you!" snarled Lord Carboro'. "Do you think I have no good feeling in me? There, you wouldn't believe in my disinterestedness, any more than I would in yours. Don't talk. What shall we do? Pay the postboys and send them off?" "No, my lord: stand aside, and make sure that we have made no mistake."