"I can't live on love, and you keep talking of this stupid waterworks. We really must go home, Arthur, as mamma will be wondering what has become of us. You don't wish to get me scolded?" "I'll bear half of the scolding. Hullo! Who is this?" He shaded his eyes with his hand and looked across the reservoir to where a tall figure appeared on the broad parapet of the dam. The figure--it was that of a man--came swiftly across, but midway caught sight of the lovers. For one minute the stranger stared as if thunderstruck, and then retreated as quickly as he had appeared. Lucy caught hold of her lover's coat to prevent his following. "Where are you going, Arthur? Who is it?" "Hokar," said Vernon, greatly excited but pausing for a moment. "It's the Hindoo who tried to strangle me and the Colonel." "What?" Lucy's voice sounded so terrified that he turned at once to apologise and excuse himself. "Nothing, dear; nothing. But this Hokar is a dangerous native of India whom I wish to get hold of. He went down into the valley on the other side, so I must----" "Don't leave me! don't leave me!" wailed Lucy, desperately detaining him. "I wish you wouldn't frighten me, Arthur. Come home at once." "But I want to follow Hokar. It is necessary----" "It is necessary to see me home," insisted Miss Corsoon firmly. "I won't be left alone with wild Indians and strangling people." Vernon was torn between his desire to stay with Lucy and a feeling that it was his duty to follow Hokar. He wished to meet the Hindoo face to face and force him to speak. As he was the servant of Maunders--masquerading as Diabella--he probably knew something, if not indeed a great deal, about Hest, and a few questions might intimate the villain's whereabouts. But the man had already vanished and it would be difficult to trace him, although Vernon had a shrewd suspicion that he was to be found at Gerby Hall. For a moment the young man hesitated between duty and pleasure, then, under the reproachful gleam of Lucy's eyes, pleasure gained the victory. Vernon escorted Miss Corsoon back to The Grange, comforting himself with the reflection that it was necessary to consult Colonel Towton before taking any steps to bring Hokar to book. All the way home Lucy chatted in a lively manner, but, preoccupied with his own thoughts, Vernon was somewhat absentminded, a cause of offence to the girl. But how could any man give way to the ruling passion of love when one of the villains concerned in a dangerous conspiracy against society was in the neighbourhood? Vernon wondered how Hokar had come to these solitudes and how Hest had succeeded in lulling his sister's suspicions, so that she might receive the man. For, on the face of it, Hokar must be staying at Gerby Hall.