u here, Mr. Bingham?" she said, in her hard voice.

"Cannot you guess, Miss Granger?" he said sternly. "A few days back you
made certain charges against your sister and myself in the presence of
your father and Mr. Owen Davies. These charges have been communicated to
me, and I have come to answer them and to demand satisfaction for them."

Mr. Granger fidgeted nervously and looked as though he would like to
escape, but Elizabeth, with characteristic courage, shut the door and
faced the storm.

"Yes, I did make those charges, Mr. Bingham," she said, "and they are
true charges. But stop, we had better send for Beatrice first."

"You may send, but you will not find her."

"What do you mean?--what do you mean?" asked her father apprehensively.

"It means that he has hidden her away, I suppose," said Elizabeth with a
sneer.

"I mean, Mr. Granger, that your daughter Beatrice is _dead_."

For once startled out of her self-command, Elizabeth gave a little cry,
while her father staggered back against the wall.

"Dead! dead! What do you mean? How did she die?" he asked.

"That is known to God and her alone," answered Geoffrey. "She went out
last evening in her canoe. When I arrived here this morning she was
missed for the first time. I walked along the beach and found the canoe
and this inside of it," and he placed the sodden shoe upon the table.

There was a silence. In the midst of it, Owen Davies burst into the room
with wild eyes and dishevelled hair.

"Is it true?" he cried, "tell me--it cannot be true that Beatrice is
drowned. She cannot have been taken from me just when I was going to
marry her. Say that it is not true!"

A great fury filled Geoffrey's heart. He walked down the room and shut
the door, a red light swimming before his eyes. Then he turned and
gripped Owen Davies's shoulder like a vice.

"You accursed blackguard--you unmanly cur!" he said; "you and that
wicked woman," and he shook his hand at Elizabeth, "conspired together
to bring a slur upon Beatrice. You did more: you threatened to attack
me, to try and ruin me if she would not give herself up to you. You
loathsome hypocrite, you tortured her and frightened her; now I am here
to frighten _you_. You said that you would make the country ring with
your tales. I tell you this--are you listening to me? If you dare to
mention her name in such a sense, or if that woman dares, I will break
every bone in your wretched body--by Heaven I will kill you!