Slight marched out of the room, feeling that he had vindicated his position and his manhood. Speed stood there gnawing his nails, sick at heart, fearsome of every sound. He was a fugitive now, ready to fly, eager to be away, but with no settled plan of action. His one idea was to be off to London now and see Mayfield. CHAPTER LVII. A CLEAN BREAST OF IT There were strange rumours in the air; the servants at the Hall were asking thrilling questions in whispers. Nobody seemed to know anything but Slight, who kept his counsel. Everything was going to come right in a day or two; all they had to do was to go about their business quietly. Late in the afternoon it became known that Sir Vincent had vanished, and within an hour or two, strange men with an air of authority were calling at the Hall and asking questions. Mr. Dashwood had gone over to the dower house to see what was really wrong. He found Lady Dashwood in the dining-room in deep discussion with the family solicitor, Mr. Morley. "What is all this I hear?" Dashwood asked. "The new head of the family has vanished, and I'm told that he and Mayfield tried to murder Ralph Darnley last night. Slight has told me a great deal, but he will not say anything as to the motive for the extraordinary crime. He says he prefers to leave me to hear the truth from Lady Dashwood." "Or from me," Mr. Morley said grimly. "As I have said all along, you have been the victim of a most impudent imposter--the son of a woman called Speed. Lady Dashwood has just been telling me the whole history of the painful case. I need not go into that at length, Mr. Dashwood, as it is a confidential matter. She was a sister of the late Mr. Ralph Dashwood's first wife, which accounts for many things that that impudent imposter knew. I hear that the police have taken out a warrant for the arrest of this Speed and his companion in crime, Horace Mayfield. In any case, they are not likely to trouble us again." George Dashwood responded suitably. He hoped that Mr. Ralph Darnley was in no danger. At the same time he could not be blind to the fact that the amazing change in the condition of affairs made a great difference to his own position. He had suffered the most from the machinations of the rascal who had so deceived them all. Also, he could see now that he was free for ever from the persecutions of Horace Mayfield. He felt quite proud and self-important; his position took definite shape before him. "In that case," he said, "we revert to the old condition of affairs. As a matter of fact, I have never had any occasion to drop the title to which----"