"Then give me that miniature. I'll ask you on my knees if you like." There was an imploring ring in the speaker's voice. Geoffrey hesitated. "If no harm is to come to Marion," he said, "I might break my word." Ralph gripped him by the arm convulsively. "I swear it," he whispered. "On my honor be it. Have I not told you before that not for all Ravenspur would I have a hair of that girl's head injured! If ever a man in this world meant anything, I mean that. The miniature, come!" And Geoffrey, with a sigh, handed the ivory disc to Ralph. CHAPTER XV RALPH RAVENSPUR'S CONCEIT "I should like to know why you wanted the ivory picture?" It was Geoffrey who asked the question. He and Ralph Ravenspur were moving along the lanes that led up to the cliffs. They were deep lanes, with overhanging edges on either side--lanes where it was not easy for two conveyances to pass. "I dare say you would," Ralph replied. "But not at present. In due course you must know everything. Geoffrey, you are fond of novel reading?" "Yes, especially books of the Gaboriau type. And yet, in all my reading, I never knew a more thrilling mystery than that of the ivory portrait." "You had a good look at it, then?" "Of course I did. The likeness to Marion was amazing. It might have been her own photograph on the ivory. It was the same, yet not the same--Marion transformed to an avenging fury." "An ancestress of hers, no doubt?" "Of course. The idea of it being Marion herself is out of the question." "That you may dismiss at once," Ralph said. "The age of the medallion proves that and Marion is an angel." "She is. Uncle Ralph, I am fearfully puzzled. What can Marion's queer ancestors and all that kind of thing have to do with our family terror?" Ralph declined to say, beyond the fact that there was a connection. A horseman was coming pounding down the lane and he stepped aside instinctively. "Jessop," he murmured, "I can tell by the trot of his horse." Jessop, one of the farmers on the estate, it was. Geoffrey regarded his companion admiringly. He seemed to be able to dispense with eyes altogether. A long course of training in woodcraft stood him in good stead now. The apple-cheeked farmer pulled up so as to pass the squires at a walking pace. "Morning, Jessop," Geoffrey cried cheerfully. "Where are you going dressed in your best. And what are you doing with that feminine-looking box?" The big man grinned sheepishly. "Riding into town," he explained. "Fact is, missus and myself have got a lodger, a great lady, who's taken our drawing-room and two bedrooms. They do say it's going to be the fashion for the 'quality' to spend their holidays right in t'country. It's a rare help to us these hard times." Ralph Ravenspur turned round suddenly upon his nephew. "Is it a fact?" he demanded. "Is it as Jessop says?"