had regarded her; and yet, as she was driven in at the vicarage gate, she told herself that it would have been better for her to remain at Loring. During the first evening Mr. Gilmore's name was not mentioned. There were subjects enough for conversation, as the period was one of great excitement in Bullhampton. "What did you think of our chapel?" asked Mrs. Fenwick. "I had no idea it was so big." "Why, they are not going to leave us a single soul to go to church. Mr. Puddleham means to make a clean sweep of the parish." "You don't mean to say that any have left you?" "Well; none as yet," replied Mrs. Fenwick. "But then the chapel isn't finished; and the Marquis has not yet sent his order to his tenants to become dissenters. We expect that he will do so, unless he can persuade the bishop to turn Frank out of the living." "But the bishop couldn't turn him out." "Of course, he couldn't,--and wouldn't if he could. The bishop and Frank are the best friends in the world. But that has nothing to do with it. You mustn't abuse the chapel to Frank; just at this moment the subject is tabooed. My belief is that the whole edifice will have to come down, and that the confusion of Mr. Puddleham and the Marquis will be something more complete than ever was yet seen. In the meantime, I put my finger to my lip, and just look at Frank whenever the chapel is mentioned." And then there was the matter of the murder, and the somewhat sad consideration of Sam's protracted absence. "And will you have to pay four hundred pounds, Mr. Fenwick?" Mary asked. "I shall be liable to pay it if he does not appear to-morrow, and no doubt must absolutely pay it if he does not turn up soon." "But you don't think that he was one of them?" "I am quite sure he was not. But he has had trouble in his family, and he got into a quarrel, and I fancy he has left the country. The police say that he has been traced to Liverpool." "And will the other men be convicted?" Mrs. Fenwick asked. "I believe they will, and most fervently hope so. They have some evidence about the wheels of a small cart in which Burrows certainly, and, I believe, no doubt Acorn also, were seen to drive across Pycroft Common early on the Sunday morning. A part of the tire had come off, and another bit, somewhat broader, and an inch or so too short, had been substituted. The impress made by this wheel in the mud, just round the corner by the farm gate, was measured and copied at the time, and they say that this will go far to identify the men. That the man's cart was there is certain,--also that he was in the same cart at Pycroft Common an hour or two after the murder." "That does seem clear," said Mary. "But somebody suggests that Sam had borrowed the cart. I believe, however, that it will all come out;--only, if I have to pay four hundred pounds I shall think that Farmer Trumbull has cost me very dear."