As if by magic, changed the mood of Isaac Thornycroft. He rose from the stool, and stood for a moment at the window in the faint rays of the light; his face was little less dark than his brother's, his voice as stern. "By your leave, madam, we will not bring my mother's name up in connexion with this subject." "I beg your pardon; but--there is one thing I should like to ask you. Do not look upon me as a stranger, but as one of yourselves from henceforth; come here, I hope, to make life pleasanter to all of us," she continued, in her sweetest tone. "Those rooms at the end of the house, with the high walls on either side--is there any superstition connected with them?" Isaac Thornycroft simply stared at her. "I cannot tell _why_ I fancy it. To-day when Mr. Richard was showing me those rooms, the thought struck me that the superstition said to obtain at the Red Court Farm must be connected with them." "Who says that superstition obtains at the Red Court Farm?" questioned Isaac sharply. "I seem to have gathered that impression from one or another." "Then I should think, for your own peace of mind, you had better ungather it--if you will allow me to coin a word," he answered. "The superstition of the plateau does not extend to the Red Court." She gave a slight sniff. "Those rooms looked dull enough for it. And your brother--your strong, stern, resolute brother--confessed to feeling so lonely in them that he had Hyde to sleep in the chamber near him. There's not so much space between them and the plateau." Isaac turned from the window and faced her; voice, eye, face resolute as Richard's. "Mrs. Thornycroft--or Lady Ellis, whichever it may please you to be called--let me say a word of advice to you in all kindness. Forget these things; do not allow yourself to recur to them. For your own sake I would warn you never to go on the plateau after daylight; the edge is more treacherous than you imagine; and your roving there could not be meet or pleasant. As to the rooms you speak of, there is no superstition attaching to them that I am aware of; but there may be other reasons to render it inexpedient for ladies to enter them. They belong to me and my brother; to my father also, when he chooses to enter; and we like to know that they are private to us. Shall I ring for lights now?" he concluded, as he turned to quit the room. "Yes, please. I wonder where Mr. Thornycroft can be?" "Probably at the Mermaid," he stayed to say. "At the Mermaid? Do you mean the public-house?" "Yes. A smoking bout takes place in its best parlour occasionally. My father, Mr. Southall, Captain Copp, Dangerfield the superintendent of the coastguard, old Connaught, and a few other gentlemen, meet there." "Oh!" she answered. "Where are you going?" "To fetch my sister from Mrs. Copp's."