"Well, yes." Towton pinched his nether lip uneasily. "I've thought of that myself many a time. But I was abroad when the dam was constructed. There certainly--as I have often said--should be an outlet for the water other than the pipes which supply Bowderstyke and the villages outside the valley, capacious as those same pipes undoubtedly are. Assuredly, if the reservoir burst there would be great loss of life and destruction of property. But the Bolly Dam is very strongly built, so I have no fear of anything happening. You can see it from my house, and we'll pay it a visit in a day or two. Meantime, this is Bowderstyke village." By this time they were passing through quite a number of small houses, from the windows of which lights gleamed cheerfully. The motor soon left these behind, then swerved to the right--looking up from the entrance to the valley--and shortly began to climb a winding road. At this point, as the Colonel had foretold, the vale broadened abruptly, and the high moors stood away so as to form a kind of deep cup. Up the side of this, the road along which they were travelling sloped upward for some distance, then turned on itself and sloped still higher. Shortly the motor attained the highest level, and in the moonlight Vernon could see the moors stretching for miles, lonely and romantic. A straight road ran parallel with the upper portion of the valley for close upon half a mile. Then appeared a miniature forest, encircled by a high stone wall. This was undoubtedly artificial, as the moorlands were treeless, and the unexpected woodland looked out of place amidst its bleak surroundings. The motor soon arrived at two tall stone pillars crested with heraldic monsters, and passing through these, spun up a short avenue to stop before a large white house, brilliantly lighted up. Spacious lawns opened up before the mansion, interspersed with flowerbeds, now bloomless, and the whole was shut in by the fairy forest, as Vernon called it in his own mind. "Here we are," said Colonel Towton jumping from the car. "Allow me to welcome you to The Grange, my friend." "Thank heaven the journey's at an end," said Vernon. CHAPTER XVIII. AT BOWDERSTYKE. "I hope you slept well, Vernon," said the Colonel to his guest the next morning when they were at breakfast. "Like a top," was the response. "That journey tired me out, and your moorland air is so strong that I slept the moment my head was on the pillow." "You will eat well also, Vernon," remarked Towton, regarding with satisfaction the attention paid by his visitor to the appetising meal. "Our air is famous as a tonic. You will return to town a giant refreshed." "There is lots to be done before I leave here," said Vernon passing his cup for a fresh supply of coffee. "What is your first step?" "We will call on Miss Hest this afternoon, and I can show you the village at the same time. Lady Corsoon and her daughter will come to-day, and will arrive to dinner. That is the programme."