me, Richard, in as few words as possible."

"Well, there was a row at home about my going so much to Hallijohn's.
The governor and my mother thought I went after Afy; perhaps I did, and
perhaps I didn't. Hallijohn had asked me to lend him my gun, and that
evening, when I went to see Af--when I went to see some one--never
mind--"

"Richard," interrupted Mr. Carlyle, "there's an old saying, and it is
sound advice: 'Tell the whole truth to your lawyer and your doctor.' If
I am to judge whether anything can be attempted for you, you must tell
it to me; otherwise, I would rather hear nothing. It shall be sacred
trust."

"Then, if I must, I must," returned the yielding Richard. "I did love
the girl. I would have waited till I was my own master to make her my
wife, though it had been for years and years. I could not do it, you
know, in the face of my father's opposition."

"Your wife?" rejoined Mr. Carlyle, with some emphasis.

Richard looked surprised. "Why, you don't suppose I meant anything else!
I wouldn't have been such a blackguard."

"Well, go on, Richard. Did she return your love?"

"I can't be certain. Sometimes I thought she did, sometimes not; she
used to play and shuffle, and she liked too much to be with--him. I
would think her capricious--telling me I must not come this evening, and
I must not come the other; but I found out they were the evenings when
she was expecting him. We were never there together."

"You forget that you have not indicted 'him' by any name, Richard. I am
at fault."

Richard Hare bent forward till his black whiskers brushed Mr. Carlyle's
shoulder. "It was that cursed Thorn."

Mr. Carlyle remembered the name Barbara had mentioned. "Who was Thorn? I
never heard of him."

"Neither had anybody else, I expect, in West Lynne. He took precious
good care of that. He lives some miles away, and used to come over in
secret."

"Courting Afy?"

"Yes, he did come courting her," returned Richard, in a savage tone.
"Distance was no barrier. He would come galloping over at dusk, tie his
horse to a tree in the wood, and pass an hour or two with Afy. In the
house, when her father was not at home; roaming about the woods with
her, when he was."

"Come to the point, Richard--to the evening."

"Hallijohn's gun was out of order, and he requested the loan of mine. I
had made an appointment with Afy to be at her house that evening, and I
went down after dinner, carrying the gun with me. My father