ice?"

"What?"

"Never shave."

"Why not?"

"Because that thick growth of hair hiding your face gives you an air of
mystery and romance no woman could possibly resist. You're a perpetual
puzzle, and to pique a woman's curiosity is the surest way to interest
her. Why, there are plenty of women who would marry you simply to find
out what is under all that hair. So never you shave."

"I don't mean to."

"Unless, of course, you have to--for purposes of disguise, for example."

"I thought you were hinting that the beard itself was a disguise,"
retorted Dunn.

"Removing it might become a better one," answered Deede Dawson. "You
told me once you knew this part fairly well. Do you know Wreste Abbey?"

Dunn gave his questioner a scowling look that seemed full of anger and
suspicion.

"What about it if I do?" he asked.

"I am asking if you do know it," said Deede Dawson.

"Yes, I do. Well?"

"It belongs to Lord Chobham, doesn't it?"

Dunn nodded.

"Old man, isn't he?"

"I'm not a book of reference about Lord Chobham," answered Dunn. "If
you want to know his age, you can easily find out, I suppose. What's the
sense of asking me a lot of questions like that?"

"He has no family, and his heir is his younger brother, General
Dunsmore, who has one son, Rupert, I believe. Do you know if that's so?"

"Look here," said Dunn, speaking with a great appearance of anger.
"Don't you go too far, or maybe something you won't like will happen. If
you've anything to say, say it straight out. Or there'll be trouble."

Deede Dawson seemed a little surprised at the vehemence of the other's
tone.

"What's the matter?" he asked. "Don't you like the family, or what's
upsetting you?"

Dunn seemed almost choking with fury. He half-lifted one hand and let it
fall again.

"If ever I get hold of that young Rupert Dunsmore," he said with a
little gasp for breath. "If ever I come face to face with him--man to
man--"

"Dear me!" smiled Deede Dawson, lifting his eyebrows. "I'm treading on
sore toes, it seems. What's the trouble between you?"

"Never you mind," replied Dunn roughly. "That's my business. But no man
ever had a worse enemy than he's been to me."

"Has he, though?" said Deede Dawson, who seemed very interested and even
a little excited. "What did he do?"

"Never you mind," Dunn repeated. "That's my affair, but I swore I'd get
even with him some day and I will, too."

"Suppose," said Deede Dawson. "Suppose I show