y well," said Junius, rising, and taking out his watch, "I will make
your statement as accurately as I can, and without any interpretations
of my own. And now I must bid you good-night. I had no idea it was after
twelve o'clock."

"And you will observe her moods?" asked Lawrence.

"Yes," said Junius as he opened the door, "I will carefully observe her
moods."

When Junius had gone, Lawrence turned his face again toward the
fireplace, where the last smouldering stick had just broken apart in the
middle, and the two ends had wearily fallen over the andirons as if they
wished it understood that they could do no more burning that night.
Taking this as a hint, Lawrence prepared to retire. "Old Isham must have
gone to bed long ago," he said, "but as I have asked for so much
assistance to-day, I think it is well that I should try to do some
things for myself."

It was, indeed, very late, but behind the partially closed shutters of a
lower room of the house sat old Mrs Keswick, gazing at the light that
was streaming from the window of the office, and wondering what those
two men were saying to each other that was keeping them sitting up
together until after midnight.

Annie Peyton, too, had not gone to bed, and looking through her chamber
window at the office, she hoped that cousin Junius would come away
before he lost his temper. Of course she thought he must have been very
angry when he came home and found Mr Croft here at the only time that
Roberta March had ever visited the house, and it was quite natural that
he should go to his rival, and tell him what he thought about it. But he
had been there a long, long time, and she did hope they would not get
very angry with each other, and that nothing would happen. One thought
comforted her very much. Mr Croft was disabled, and Junius would scorn
to take advantage of a man in that condition.

At an upper window, at the other end of the house, sat Roberta March,
ready for bed, but with no intention of going there until Junius Keswick
had come out of the office. Knowing the two men as she did, she had no
fear that any harm would come to either of them during this long
conference, whatever its subject might be. That she, herself, was that
subject she had not the slightest doubt, and although it was of no
earthly use for her to sit there and gaze upon that light streaming into
the darkness of the yard, but revealing to her no more of what was going
on inside the room than if it