The major bowed his head, and as far as possible a veil was drawn over the events of that night. Rumour was pretty busy during the next month, during which period several stories were afloat, but only one bore the stamp of truth--that, out of despair some said, Captain Rolph obtained leave of absence, and went off to Norway, shooting, while Mrs Rolph and her niece accompanied him as far as Hull, and then continued their journey to Scarboro'. That was perfectly true, Mrs Rolph having her hands pretty full with Marjorie, who also turned ill having bad, nervous, hysterical fits, and refusing absolutely to go outside The Warren door without having tight hold of Mrs Rolph's arm; and even then she was constantly turning her eyes wildly round as if in expectation of seeing someone start out from behind bush or hedge. "The shock to her system," Mrs Rolph used to say to herself, and she became increasingly gentle toward the girl whose nerves had been shattered by the affair at The Hall. By this time the shutters were all closed at Brackley, for, after Sir John had been severely blamed for not getting down some big physician when Glynne's brain fever was at its worst, people came to the conclusion that he knew what he was about, for if ever a clever practitioner did settle down in a place, it was "Doctor" Oldroyd, who had cured the young lady in a wonderfully short space of time. For the month at its end found the Days in Italy, where Glynne had been recommended to go on account of her health. Oldroyd consequently was on the road to fame--that is the fame which extended for a radius of six miles; but his pockets were very little the heavier, and he still looked upon men who kept banking accounts with a feeling akin to awe. Change in the neighbourhood of Brackley extended no further. The blunt-eyed, resident policeman, somehow never managed to come across the poachers who made raids upon The Warren and upon Brackley during the absence of their owners; while over at Lindham, the doctor learned from old Mother Wattley, who grew more chatty and apparently younger, under her skilful medical man's care, that Ben Hayle--`my son-in-law'--had taken an acre of land, and was `goin' to make a fortun' there as a florist; but when Oldroyd met the ex-keeper one day, and went over the garden with him, it seemed improbable that it would even pay the rent. "Better turn to your old business, Hayle," said Oldroyd. "Easier said than done, sir," replied the man. "Old master gave me my chance when I was a young fool, and liked to do a bit o' poaching, believing honestly then that all birds were wild, and that I had as good a right to them as anybody. But I soon found out the difference when I had to rear them, and I served him honest, and Mrs Rolph too, all those years, till she discharged me because of the captain's liking for my Judith." "But surely there were other places to be found by a man with a good character."