good news to be true; depend upon it, he won't
venture to West Lynne again. This man is no more like that other villain
than you are like him."

"Then--as that is set at rest--we had better be going, Richard. You have
to see your mother, and she must be waiting in anxiety. How much money
do you want?"

"Twenty-five pounds would do, but----" Richard stopped in hesitation.

"But what?" asked Mr. Carlyle. "Speak out, Richard."

"Thirty would be more welcome. Thirty would put me at ease."

"You shall take thirty," said Mr. Carlyle, counting out the notes to
him. "Now--will you walk with me to the grove, or will you walk alone? I
mean to see you there in safety."

Richard thought he would prefer to walk alone; everybody they met might
be speaking to Mr. Carlyle. The latter inquired why he chose moonlight
nights for his visits.

"It is pleasanter for travelling. And had I chosen dark nights, Barbara
could not have seen my signal from the trees," was the answer of
Richard.

They went out and proceeded unmolested to the house of Justice Hare.
It was past nine, then. "I am so much obliged to you Mr. Carlyle,"
whispered Richard, as they walked up the path.

"I wish I could help you more effectually, Richard, and clear up the
mystery. Is Barbara on the watch? Yes; there's the door slowly opening."

Richard stole across the hall and into the parlor to his mother. Barbara
approached and softly whispered to Mr. Carlyle, standing, just outside
the portico; her voice trembled with the suspense of what the answer
might be.

"Is it the same man--the same Thorn?"

"No. Richard says this man bears no resemblance to the real one."

"Oh!" uttered Barbara, in her surprise and disappointment. "Not the
same! And for the best part of poor Richard's evening to have been taken
up for nothing."

"Not quite nothing," said Mr. Carlyle. "The question is now set at
rest."

"Set at rest!" repeated Barbara. "It is left in more uncertainty than
ever."

"Set at rest so far as regards Captain Thorn. And whilst our suspicions
were concentrated upon him, we thought not of looking to other
quarters."

When they entered the sitting-room Mrs. Hare was crying over Richard,
and Richard was crying over her; but she seized the hand of Mr. Carlyle.

"You have been very kind; I don't know whatever we should do without
you. And I want to tax your kindness further. Has Barbara mentioned it?"

"I could not talk in the hall, mamma; the servants m