The Marquis replaced the letter in the envelope. For several moments he stood looking across the park, beyond, to the well-cultivated farms rolling away to the distant line of hills. His brain was numbed. Marcia had gone!--There was a mist somewhere. He rubbed the windowpane, in vain. Then he set his teeth, and his long, nervous fingers gripped at his throat for a moment. "Your coffee is getting cold," his sister reminded him. He came back to his place. She watched him a little curiously. "Any message from our pseudo-Lothario?" she asked. The Marquis gathered up his other letters. "There is nothing here from him," he said, "but I must ask you to excuse me, Caroline. There is an urgent matter which needs my attention." He crossed the room a little more slowly than usual, and his sister, who was still watching him critically, sighed. There was no doubt at all that his walk was becoming the walk of an old man. The stoop of the shoulders was also a new thing. She counted up his age on her fingers, and, rising from her place, looked at herself in the mirror opposite. Her face for a moment was hard and set, and her fingers clenched. "Years!" she muttered to herself. "How I hate them!" The Marquis selected a grey Homburg hat of considerable antiquity, and a thicker stick than usual, from the rack in the hall. The front doors stood wide open, and he walked out into the pleasant sunshine. It was a warm morning, but twice he shivered as he passed down the broad sweep of drive and, with a curious sensation of unfamiliarity, crossed the little bridge over the moat, the few yards of park, and finally approached the palings which bordered Richard Vont's domain. The mist still seemed to linger before his eyes, but through it he could see the familiar figure seated in his ancient chair, with the book upon his knee. The Marquis drew close to the side of the palings. "Richard Vont," he began, "I have come down from Mandeleys to speak to you. Will you listen to what I have to say?" There was no reply. The Marquis drew the letter from his pocket. "You are a cruel and stubborn man, Vont," he continued. "You have gone far out of your way to bring injury and unhappiness upon me. All your efforts are as nothing. Will you hear from me what has happened?" There was silence, still grim silence. The Marquis stretched out his hand and leaned a little upon the paling.