tended to go to bed and then stole out to skate by
moonlight!"

"Hush, hush, Chloe! Never tell tales out of school," commanded the Major
in mock alarm; but Anstice noticed how the man's brown fingers closed
round his wife's hand, and suddenly he felt as though this spectacle of
their reunion was too tantalizing to be pleasant to a sore heart like
his own.

He rose rather abruptly, and both the others looked at him with a little
surprise.

"You're not going, Anstice? Surely you'll stay to dinner? My little
daughter will be sorely disappointed if you run away now!"

"Do stay, Dr. Anstice!" Chloe rose too, and her eyes, like two beautiful
blue jewels, shone kindly into his. "Our scheme will have to be
discussed further, won't it? We mustn't take the field with an
ill-prepared plan, must we, Leo?"

"Indeed we must not," returned her husband quickly. "Especially as I was
going to ask a very big favour of you. Dr. Anstice! Seeing how more than
good you have been in interesting yourself in this affair, I have been
wondering whether you wouldn't conceivably like to be in at the death,
so to speak. In plain words, I was going to ask you if you would care to
be my fellow-conspirator in this nefarious plot we have hatched between
us!"

"You mean--will I sit up with you to-night?" Anstice spoke eagerly, and
Chloe smiled.

"Well, you're not annoyed by the suggestion, anyway! I needn't say I
should appreciate your company--though after all, it is a big thing to
ask a man of your calling to sacrifice the rest he must need pretty
badly!" He spoke rather dubiously.

"Oh, not a bit of it, Major Carstairs!" Anstice's eyes brightened at the
thought of the adventure. "In a matter of this kind two witnesses are
better than one; and there is always a chance that even a woman may turn
nasty when she finds herself cornered--especially one who is half a
foreigner," he added with a smile.

"Then you'll come? It's awfully good of you----"

"Not at all, sir. You forget I'm an interested party," said Anstice
quickly. "It is as much to my interest to clear the matter up as to
yours, now. Well, what about details? Where--and how--shall we meet, and
how do we get into the house without anyone knowing?"

"Ah, yes. That requires thought."

Major Carstairs rubbed his hands together gaily, and Chloe burst out
laughing.

"You two are nothing but schoolboys," she said joyously. "I believe you
are both looking forward to this midnight advent