He swore a solemn oath--Richard dictating it--not to hold further communication with Mary Anne at present, either by word or letter; not to do it until Richard should of his own will voluntarily give permission for it. He swore not again to put foot within the Red Court Farm; he swore not to write to any one of its inmates, failing this permission. The determination not to be pestered with letters perhaps caused Richard to insist on this. Any way, the oaths were taken, and were to hold force for six months. "Now, then, go your way," said Richard. "Your path for departure lies _there_," and he pointed to the open highway leading from the entrance gates of the Red Court. "But first hear _me_ swear an oath that I shall surely keep: If you do not go straight away; if you linger on this spot unnecessarily by so much as a few minutes; if you, having once started, return to it again I will put this bullet through your body. Cyril! See him off; he was turning traitor." Cyril Thornycroft had come strolling towards them, somewhat at a distance yet; he did not catch the sense of his brother's concluding words, but he saw that some explosion of anger had occurred. Picking up the coat, Hunter put it on as he walked to join Cyril; while Richard, as if under the pressure of some urgent errand, flew off across the lawn and flower-beds towards the coach-house ruins and the secret passage leading from it. "What is all this? What does Richard mean?" inquired Cyril as they commenced their walk along the high road. "He said something about a traitor." "I was not a traitor; your brother lies. Would I turn traitor to a house whose hospitality I have been accepting? I saw, accidentally, a light exhibited from the Half-moon rocks, and I guessed what it meant. I guess more now than I will repeat, but the secret shall be safe with me." "Safe now, and after your departure?" "Safe always. I have sworn it." "I am sorry this should have happened," said Cyril, after a pause. "And so am I," returned Robert Hunter. "Circumstances, not my own will, led to it. It is a pity I missed the omnibus." "Yes," said Cyril, speaking abstractedly, as if his thoughts were far away. "But if you step out well you may be at Jutpoint by half-past ten." "Scarcely so," thought Robert Hunter. Cyril, perhaps, did not know the hour now. "What! Have you missed the omnibus, sir?" The question came from a woman who met them, Captain Copp's servant Sarah. She was coming along without her bonnet in the frosty night. "Yes, I have; and must walk it for my pains," answered Mr. Hunter. "Are you going to the Red Court, Sarah?" asked Cyril. "I am, sir; I'm going there to fetch Miss Chester," returned Sarah in her hardest tone. "And a fine tantrum master's in over it, roaring out that I ought to have come a good hour ago. Why didn't they tell me, then?"