Mr. Mudge, to tell the truth, though he carried a race-card in his hand, and glasses slung across his shoulder, had the disconsolate air of a man conscious that he was out of place. He answered Pamela, indeed, almost apologetically. "It is better after all to be here than in London on a day of summer," he said, and he added, with a shrewd glance at her, "You have something to say to me--a question to ask." Pamela looked up at him in surprise. "Yes, I have. Let us go out." They walked into the paddock, and thence through the gate into the enclosure. The enclosure was at this moment rather empty. Pamela led the way to the rails alongside the course, and chose a place where they were out of the hearing of any bystander. "You remember the evening at Frances Millingham's?" she asked. She had not seen Mr. Mudge since that date. Mr. Mudge replied immediately. "Yes; Sir Anthony Stretton"--and the name struck so oddly upon Pamela's ears that, serious as at this moment she was, she laughed. "Sir Anthony Stretton turned away from the steps of his house. You were distressed, Miss Mardale: I, on the contrary, said that nothing better could have happened. You wish to ask me why I said that?" "Yes," said Pamela; "I am very anxious to know. Millie is my friend. I am, in a sort of way, too, responsible for her;" and as Mr. Mudge looked surprised, she repeated the word--"Yes, responsible. And I am rather troubled." She spoke with a little hesitation. There was a frown upon her forehead, a look of perplexity in her dark eyes. She was reluctant to admit that her friend was in any danger or needed any protection from her own weakness. The freemasonry of her sex impelled her to silence. On the other hand, she was at her wits' end what to do. And she had confidence in her companion's discretion; she determined to speak frankly. "It is not only your remark which troubles me," she said, "but I called on Millie the next afternoon." "Oh, you did?" exclaimed Mr. Mudge. "Yes; I asked after Tony. Millie had not seen him, and did not expect him. She showed me letters from his solicitors empowering her to do what she liked with the house and income, and a short letter from Tony himself, written on the _Perseverance_, to the same effect." She did not explain to Mr. Mudge what the _Perseverance_ was, and he asked no questions. "I told Millie," she continued, "that Tony had returned, but she refused to believe it. I told her when and where I had seen him." "You did that?" said Mr. Mudge. "Wait a moment." He saw and understood Pamela's reluctance to speak. He determined to help her out. "Let me describe to you what followed. She stared blankly at you and asked you to repeat what you had said?" "Yes," replied Pamela, in surprise; "that is just what she did." "And when you had repeated it, she turned a little pale, perhaps was disconcerted, perhaps a little--afraid."