"I daresay; I wonder he did not threaten! I will this for myself and if he knows anything--which I very much doubt--I will get it out of him. My dear, how can you think your aunt knows anything about the matter? Now, Ruth, you must promise me to leave it all alone, and think no more about it." "Very well," she said, with unusual meekness. "Then you don't think Aunt Inez has anything to do--any knowledge, I mean?" "I am quite sure she has not. She is kind to Job out of pure charity. Now I must say good-night and, once more, don't worry." But as he drove home he came to the conclusion that Mrs. Marshall's kindness to the gypsy was meant, in some way, to shield her husband. "And that complicates matters,"--thought Heron. CHAPTER XXII. AT BAY. On the following morning, Geoffrey arrived precisely at the time appointed by Mr. Cass, and was shewn at once into the library. His host was there alone; for Marshall, with his usual want of punctuality, had not yet appeared. Geoffrey was informed of the sudden change in Ruth. "Your visit did her good last night," said her father with a smile. "I told her not to worry herself--that all was quite right; and she seemed comforted. But she told me something which seems to hint that Mrs. Marshall knows of her husband's guilt." And he, repeated Ruth's tale about the gypsy and Mrs. Marshall's kindness to him--her extraordinary kindness, he termed it. Mr. Cass listened attentively, but shook his head. "I don't agree with you," he said. "You do not know Inez as I do." While they were still speaking--in whispers like two guilty people--Marshall bustled into the room in what he would have called his breezy fashion. In reality his manner was simply aggressive and noisy, but it gave him the air of being--what he wanted to be thought--a creature too guileless and unconventional to conceal his feelings. "Good-day, Cass," he cried loudly to his former partner, and nodding to Heron. "Well, here I am! What's the matter? Got into any trouble?" "No, I have not got into any trouble," was Mr. Cass's emphatic reply. "This boy, then?" and Marshall turned smilingly to Geoffrey, upon whom he looked as a possible member of the family. "You're in trouble--eh, eh? Ah, well, young men will be young men!" "I am sure you speak from experience, Marshall, said Mr. Cass, while Heron contented himself with a shake of the head. But there is nothing wrong with Heron." "Very glad, I'm sure," Marshall said insolently; it seemed as though he scented some trouble in the air and thought to meet it with bluff. As yet he had not the faintest idea that the coming conversation was to be serious for him personally. "Well," he went on, "as you are all right and Heron is a good boy, why have you asked me to come over?" "Can't you guess?" asked Geoffrey, angered by the man's manner. He lifted his eyebrows. "No," he said, tranquilly. "I really am at a loss to understand why----"