the parcel, and Mr. Carlyle, with
a brief word of thanks, sped away with it.

She leaned on the gate as before, the ready tears flowing again; her
heart was aching for Richard; it was aching for the disappointment the
night had brought forth respecting Captain Thorn. Still nobody passed;
still the steps of her father were not heard, and Barbara stayed on.
But--what was that figure cowering under the shade of the hedge at a
distance, and seemingly, watching her? Barbara strained her eyes, while
her heart beat as if it would burst its bounds. Surely, surely, it was
her brother? What had he ventured back for?

Richard Hare it was. When fully assured that Barbara was standing
there, he knew the justice was still absent, and ventured to advance.
He appeared to be in a strange state of emotion--his breath labored, his
whole frame trembling.

"Barbara! Barbara!" he called. "I have seen Thorn."

Barbara thought him demented. "I know you saw him," she slowly said,
"but it was not the right Thorn."

"Not he," breathed Richard; "and not the gentleman I saw to-night in
Carlyle's office. I have seen the fellow himself. Why to you stare at me
so, Barbara?"

Barbara was in truth scanning his face keenly. It appeared to her a
strange tale that he was telling.

"When I left here, I cut across into Bean lane, which is more private
for me than this road," proceeded Richard. "Just as I got to that clump
of trees--you know it, Barbara--I saw somebody coming toward me from a
distance. I stepped back behind the trunks of the trees, into the shade
of the hedge, for I don't care to be met, though I am disguised. He came
along the middle of the lane, going toward West Lynne, and I looked out
upon him. I knew him long before he was abreast of me; it was Thorn."
Barbara made no comment; she was digesting the news.

"Every drop of blood within me began to tingle, and an impulse came upon
me to spring upon him and accuse him of the murder of Hallijohn," went
on Richard, in the same excited manner. "But I resisted it; or, perhaps,
my courage failed. One of the reproaches against me had used to be that
I was a physical coward, you know, Barbara," he added, in a tone of
bitterness. "In a struggle, Thorn would have had the best of it; he is
taller and more powerful than I, and might have battered me to death. A
man who can commit one murder won't hesitate at a second."

"Richard, do you think you could have been deceived?" she urged. "You
had