lice thought was not clear, but she treated him with a
quiet friendliness that he found singularly pleasant. By and by he
began to wonder why Lawrence had not written, particularly as he had
brought away a bag of his. Foster had one like it, and as both had its
owner's initials stamped outside, he imagined the baggage agent had
been deceived by the F when he affixed the check. Lawrence's bag,
however, had his name engraved upon the lock.

Foster sat down in a big chair by the fire, and imagined he fell
asleep, because it had got nearly dark without his noticing it when the
opening of the door roused him. Looking up, he saw Featherstone come
in with a letter in his hand. The post did not arrive until the
afternoon.

"Ah!" he said, "you have heard from Lawrence."

"No, but the letter is about him," Featherstone replied, and sitting
down opposite, was silent for a few moments. His pose was slack and he
looked as if he had got a shock.

"I don't see how you can help, but perhaps you had better know how
matters are," he resumed and gave the letter to Foster.

It was short, but Foster, who was surprised and disturbed, understood
his host's alarm. Daly had written from Hexham, asking, or rather
summoning, Featherstone to meet him there next day, although he stated
that if this was impossible, he would arrive at the Garth in the
evening. There was a threat in the intimation that it would be to
Lawrence's advantage if Featherstone saw him soon.

"Well," said Foster dryly, "it looks as if our plot had succeeded
better than we thought. We certainly didn't expect the fellow would
follow me to England."

Featherstone did not seem to understand, and Foster remembered that,
with the object of saving him anxiety, he had said nothing about Daly's
having extorted money from Lawrence in Canada. He now explained the
situation in as few words as possible.

"But Lawrence ought to have told me!" Featherstone exclaimed.

"I don't know that it would have been of much use. You see, Lawrence
meant to put Daly off the track, and if he failed in this, to fight.
When I heard of it, I quite agreed."

"But he can't fight," Featherstone objected in a strained voice. "I'd
have urged him to do so, if it had been possible. We're not cowards."

"Why is it impossible?"

"Don't you know?" Featherstone asked with some surprise.

"I know my partner's in trouble; that's all."

Featherstone hesitated, as if he wanted to take the oth