"I'm at your disposal. And to-morrow I suppose you will get Lady Corsoon to take charge of Ida?" "If Miss Hest will let her go," said the Colonel cautiously. "She can't detain her, surely." "Not by outward force; but she may use her influence to keep her. Miss Hest won't lose the chance of swaying the mind of a girl with ten thousand a year. You may be sure of that." "H'm," said Vernon finishing the last of his coffee. "If Ida learned the secret of Dimsdale from Maunders, disguised as Diabella, you may be sure that she told Miss Hest. In that case, Ida is not worth keeping." Colonel Towton nodded and pushed back his chair to rise. "There's something in that, I'll admit. However, we can say nothing until we interview Miss Hest. I have already sent her a note saying that we have arrived and will see her to-day." Matters having been thus arranged, the two men lighted their pipes and strolled out into the grounds. It was a bright autumnal morning with a cloudless blue sky and a radiant sun; the moorland air was keen, and Vernon drew long invigorating breaths into his lungs. Notwithstanding the somewhat bleak surroundings, The Grange was a remarkably comfortable house, and the original Towton who had built the same had striven to render it as bright as possible, so as to contrast with the sombre moors. The Grange, indeed, was more like an Italian villa than a Yorkshire mansion, as it was constructed of white stone and every window had green shutters, while the roof was formed of cheerful red tiles. Both rooms and corridors were spacious and decorated in brilliant tints, and the furniture was of the most modern description. "It isn't at all like an ancestral home, is it?" said Towton cheerfully. "And all the better for that, since the word suggests oak parlours, comfortable gloom, and cumbersome furniture." "Those would suit the situation better," said Vernon, glancing at the pines and fir-trees, which formed a screen to keep away the too keen moorland winds. "Your brilliant walls and red roofs look out of place in these stern solitudes, where Nature seems to be acting the anchorite." "I love the scenery and solitude and all that, Vernon, but I like to be comfortably housed. My great-grand-father left the original family seat, which is in the valley almost below the Bolly Dam, and built this place after a long sojourn in Italy. My cousin, from whom I inherit, cleared out all the old Victorian furniture and redecorated the house as you see it. It's all very modern, and perhaps, in contrast with the grandeur of the moors, somewhat frivolous. But, at all events, it is cheerful and comfortable. I could scarcely ask Ida to inherit a kind of Ogre's Castle like Gerby Hall." "Where is that?"