actually started, I don't know," replied Mr. Bourne, who was a man with
a large pale face and iron-gray hair. "That she intended to go, I have
reason to believe."

He spoke the last words significantly, lowering his voice. Lionel looked
at him.

"She paid me a mysterious visit at the vicarage the night before the
start," continued the clergyman. "A very mysterious visit, indeed, taken
in conjunction with her words. I was in my study, reading by
candle-light, when somebody came tapping at the glass door, and stole
in. It was Mrs. Roy. She was in a state of tremor, as I have heard it
said she appeared the night the inquiry was held at Verner's Pride,
touching the death of Rachel Frost. She spoke to me in ambiguous terms
of a journey she was about to take--that she should probably be away for
her whole life--and then she proceeded to speak of that night."

"The night of the inquiry?" echoed Lionel.

"The night of the inquiry--that is, the night of the accident," returned
Mr. Bourne. "She said she wished to confide a secret to me, which she
had not liked to touch upon before, but which she could not leave the
place without confiding to some one responsible, who might use it in
case of need. The secret she proceeded to tell me was--that it was
Frederick Massingbird who had been quarrelling with Rachel that night by
the Willow Pool. She could swear it to me, she said, if necessary."

"But--if that were true--why did she not proclaim it at the time?" asked
Lionel, after a pause.

"It was all she said. And she would not be questioned. 'In case o' need,
sir, in case anybody else should ever be brought up for it, tell 'em
that Dinah Roy asserted to you with her last breath in Deerham, that Mr.
Fred Massingbird was the one that was with Rachel.' Those were the words
she used to me; I dotted them down after she left. As I tell you, she
would not be questioned, and glided out again almost immediately."

"Was she wandering in her mind?"

"I think not. She spoke with an air of truth. When I heard of the flight
of the converts the next morning, I could only conclude that Mrs. Roy
had intended to be amongst them. But now, understand me, Mr. Verner,
although I have told you this, I have not mentioned it to another living
soul. Neither do I intend to do so. It can do no good to reap up the sad
tale; whether Frederick Massingbird was or was not with Rachel that
night; whether he was in any way guilty, or was purely innocent, it
b