Mrs. Hill looked at the brown paper covering, at the box, and at the roughly-formed cross. "What are these?" she asked carelessly. "That is what I should like to know," said her son; "at least I should like to know why the sight of this cross made my father faint." Mrs. Hill gasped, and laid her hand on her heart as though she felt a sudden pain. "Did he faint?" she asked--"did Lawrence faint?" The young man noticed the slip. Usually his mother called his father Mr. Hill or Harold, but never till this moment had he heard her call him Lawrence. Apparently the memory of old events was working in her breast. But she seemed genuinely perplexed as to the reason of Hill's behaviour at the sight of the cross. "Where did he faint?" "Outside the gate," said Allen quickly, and explained how he had received the parcel from Jane Wasp, and the circumstance of its delivery, ending with the query: "Why did he faint?" "I can't say," said Mrs. Hill, pushing back the cross and box pettishly; "there is no reason so far as I know. We'll ask your father when he awakens." "He said he would explain," said Allen sadly; "and between you and me, mother, we must have an explanation." "Your father won't like the use of the word 'must,' Allen." "I can't help that," said the young man doggedly, and went to the door of the library. He opened it, looked out, and then closed it again. His mother saw all this with surprise, and was still more surprised when Allen spoke again. "Do you know, mother, why I say I must undertake this investigation?" "No," said Mrs. Hill calmly; "I don't know." "It is because I wish to save my father's good name." "Is it in danger?" asked the woman, turning pale again. "It might be--if any one knew he met Mr. Strode at the Red Deeps on the night of the murder." Mrs. Hill leaped to her feet and clutched her son's arm. "Allen," she gasped, and the ashen colour of her face alarmed him, "how dare you say that--it is not possible--it cannot--cannot--" "It is possible," said Allen firmly. "Sit down, mother, and let me explain. I held my tongue as long as I could, but now my father and I must have an explanation. The fact of his fainting at the sight of this cross makes me suspicious, and the fact that Eva wants to investigate the case makes me afraid of what may come out." "Has the cross anything to do with the affair?" "Heaven, whose symbol it is, only knows," said the young man gloomily. Mother, "I am moving in the darkness, and I dread to come into the light. If I undertake this search I may be able to save my father." "From what--from--from----" Allen nodded and sank his voice. "It may even come to that. Listen, mother, I'll tell you what I know. On that night I went to the Red Deeps to prove the falsity of Eva's dream, I found it only too true." "But you never got to the Red Deeps," said Mrs. Hill, looking steadily into her son's face, "you sprained your ankle." "So I did, but that was _after_ I knew the truth." "What truth?"