“First—for my time is very short—about Clara,” he said. “I blame myself horribly for all the anxiety she has caused you; but you know, little mother, that she fell in love with that scapegrace brother of mine, and only transferred her affections to me, without knowing it. But the child’s safe—I give you my word for it; and I think you can trust me, Betty, to deliver her into your hands again, when the time comes for speaking the truth. But that time is not yet; for the present, you must be silent; everything I value most on earth depends on that. I am getting nearer, every hour, little mother, to the end of my difficulties; I am on the track of the man who murdered my brother, and can declare my innocence. If I can remain free but a few hours longer, I may be able to devise some plan—some way out of the tangle. Don’t you see my strange position; that, for my own sake, as well as yours, I want to declare to the world that I am Philip Chater, and innocent of all these sins which have been visited upon me; while, for the sake of one dear woman, I want to remain Dandy Chater, because—God help me!—she loves Dandy Chater—and I am a stranger to her.” “Well—yer don’t stand much chance of goin’ free if yer chucks stones up at that there Tokely’s winder,” said Betty, laughing through her tears. “I had no idea that the man was still here,” replied Philip, “and, of course, I couldn’t be expected to know which window was yours; I had to take the risk of that. But I saw his light go out; there’s no doubt that he is sleeping peacefully, and dreaming of anything but Dandy Chater.” The words were scarcely out of his mouth, when the door leading from the staircase was opened abruptly, and Toby Siggs thrust in his head, and looked at them with a scared face. On the principle that whatever Betty did was sure to be right, Toby would not have thought of questioning her, concerning her championship of the supposed Dandy Chater, or of her endeavours to hide him. Obedient to Philip’s injunction, Mrs. Siggs had refrained from entering into any explanation with Toby—who was, if the truth be told, somewhat of a gossip. But, at the present moment, loyalty to his wife, no less than to the man whose cause she upheld, had prompted him to leave his chamber, and creep down to give them warning. “Betty, old gal—that there Tokely—as is the deepest ever I see—an’ the most careful of ’is precious skin—’as gorn off to fetch assistance.” It took Toby a long time to say this, in his slow and ponderous fashion; but he got it out at last, and stood nodding his head prodigiously when he had finished. “What do you mean?” asked Philip quickly, making a movement towards the door. “I’ve heard no one about the house; how could he have got out?”