yet set out on his
round of professional visits, and he was as much astonished as Mrs
Pansey when the curate made his appearance. Also, like Mrs Pansey, he
was struck by the young man's worn looks.

'What! Gabriel,' he cried, when the curate entered, 'this is an
unexpected pleasure. You look ill, lad!'

'I am ill,' replied Gabriel, dropping into a chair with an air of
fatigue. 'I feel very much worried, and I have come to ask for your
advice.'

'Very pleased to give it to you, my boy, but why not consult the
bishop?'

'My father is the last man in the world I would consult, doctor.'

'That is a strange speech, Gabriel,' said Graham, with a keen look.

'It is the prelude to a stranger story! I have come to confide in you
because you have known me all my life, doctor, and because you are the
most intimate friend my father has.'

'Have you been getting into trouble?'

'No. My story concerns my father more than it does me.'

'Concerns your father!' repeated the doctor, with a sudden recollection
of the bishop's secret. 'Are you sure that I am the proper person to
consult?'

'I am certain of it. I know--I know--well, what I do know is something I
have not the courage to speak to my father about. For God's sake,
doctor, let me tell you my suspicions and hear your advice.'

'Your suspicions!' said Graham, starting from his chair, with a chill in
his blood. 'About--about--that--that murder?'

'God forbid, doctor. No! not about the murder, but about the man who was
murdered.'

'Jentham?'

'Yes, about the man who called himself Jentham. Are you sure we are
quite private here, doctor?'

Graham nodded, and walking to the door turned the key. Then he came back
to his seat and fixed his eyes on the perturbed face of the young man.
'Does your father know that you are back?' he asked.

'No one knows that I am here save Mrs Pansey.'

'Then it won't be a secret long,' said Graham, drily; 'that old magpie
is as good as the town-crier. You left your mother well?'

'Quite well; and Lucy also. I made an excuse to come back.'

'Then your mother and sister do not know what you are about to tell me?'

Gabriel made a gesture of horror. 'God forbid!' said he again, then
clasped his hands over his white face and burst into half hysterical
speech. 'Oh, the horror of it, the horror of it!' he wailed. 'If what I
know is true, then all our lives are ruined.'

'Is it so very terrible, my boy?'

'So terrible that I dare not