"Thank you. Ask her to get ready. I will give her half-a-crown for her trouble." I called to Sophy, and asked her if she was ready fur a long walk. "I am ready for anything," she said, "along o' you." "Ten miles there, and ten miles back, Sophy," I said, for it was my intention to return to the inn that night. "I'll walk all night if yer want me to." "Come along, then, my girl." I settled my account with the landlord before I left, and then, accompanied by his daughter, a girl of fourteen, we walked to Deering Woods. "There!" said she, "keep on this track and it will take you right through the woods till you reach the road for Glasserton. When you come to two tracks keep to the left." The directions she gave were clear, and I made her happy with the promised half-a-crown. "How far do the woods extend?" I asked. "You'll have to walk six or seven miles," she replied, "before you get out of 'em--and mind you take care of the cliffs. They're dangerous." "We shall see them, I suppose, before we come on them?" "Oh, you'll see 'em right enough, but nobody goes nearer to 'em than they can help." She stood looking after us till thick clusters of trees hid us from her sight. "Step out, Sophy," I said, "we've got a long walk before us." An explanation of the motive for my sudden visit to Glasserton will be found in the following extracts from the _Fleetdyke Herald_: THE FIRST EXTRACT. "_Tampering with a Register Book. Strange Case_.--M. Bordier and his son, Julian Bordier, of Swiss extraction, were charged with erasing a name, and writing another over it, from a marriage entry in the register book of marriages in the parish of Glasserton. Mr. Hare, the registrar, stated that the accused visited him yesterday afternoon, for the purpose, as they said, of verifying a copy of a marriage certificate which they brought with them. The marriage in question was solemnized over nineteen years ago, and, according to the entry as it now stands, was between Gerald Paget and Emilia Braham, The elder of the accused made the examination, and professed himself satisfied. He then requested the registrar to step out of the office with him, saying that he wished to make some private inquiries of him. The registrar consented, and the two went outside for a few minutes, the questions which M. Bordier asked relating to the witnesses to the marriage, Julian Bordier meanwhile remaining alone in the office with, the register book. Mr. Hare, who has been registrar for nine or ten months only, answered the questions to the best of his ability, and then M. Bordier summoned his son from the office, and the accused departed. In the evening Mr. Hare had occasion to consult the register book, and as a matter of curiosity he referred to the entry which his visitors in the afternoon had called to verify. To his astonishment he discovered that the name of the bridegroom had been erased, and the name of Gerald Paget written over the erasure. His suspicions fell