After a merry luncheon, during which Lady Corsoon, bearing in mind her late conversation with her host, was very gracious to Vernon, the ladies departed to their boudoir, the mother to rest and the daughter to write letters. Lucy, indeed, wished to call and see Ida, but Lady Corsoon refused to let her go alone, and again expressed her determination not to pay a visit until the next day. Lucy, always anxious to keep her parent in a good temper, was obliged to fall in with this arrangement, and followed Lady Corsoon out of the room. It could be easily seen that the wily wife of the millionaire was unwilling to leave her daughter in the too fascinating society of Vernon, and evidently had made up her mind not to consent to the match until she was certain that her late brother's fortune would _not_ come into her hands. Left alone with the Colonel, the young man related how unexpectedly Hokar had appeared and disappeared on the dam. Towton listened frowningly and considered awhile before expressing his opinion. "There's something suspicious about all this," he said at length. "Here is Miss Jewin, the very woman who tricked you into becoming a prisoner at that West Kensington house, and here also is Hokar, the Hindoo, so closely connected with Maunders, and, for all we know, with Hest." "What do you make of it all?" "It's a gang of thieves," said Towton unhesitatingly. "Hokar, Bahadur, Miss Jewin, Maunders, and Hest are all banded together under the leadership of the last as The Spider. He has vanished, and so has Maunders, so I expect he sent down the Hindoos here in order that they might be out of the way." "And Miss Jewin?" "She has always been the housekeeper at Gerby Hall, Vernon. But I daresay Hest got her to come to London to be used as a tool, knowing that he could trust her. She is a very old and faithful woman, and I believe was the nurse of both Hest and his sister. The people hereabouts call her an old witch, and she is credited with all manner of occult powers." "I can understand Miss Hest not being suspicious of Miss Jewin," said Vernon thoughtfully, "as she may have gone to London ostensibly for a trip and then would have returned in the ordinary course of things. But Miss Hest must surely wonder at the presence of Hokar. I am bound to say that I did not see Bahadur." "He may be here, or he may not," rejoined the Colonel; "We'll soon find out. To-morrow I go with Lady Corsoon to see Ida, and then I can warn Miss Hest of the character of the man. If, indeed, she doesn't know it." "Towton, you surely don't suspect Miss Hest of knowing anything about her brother's wickedness?" "No, I don't say that. And yet it is strange the Hindoo should be there. And why should he be lurking about the Bolly Dam? I shall go myself to-morrow, after I have seen Miss Hest, to make an examination." "What do you mean?"