gh to deceive his
sister-in-law. Her quick eye had detected several little items of
interest, although they had occurred simultaneously and in opposite
directions.

At the mention of Leslie Sherwood's name, Lucy Varr had straightened in
her chair and turned to her son with parted lips as if eager for more
news, while a delicate flush--the first touch of color Ocky had seen
there in two months--sprang into her pale cheeks. This was fair
enough. In the old days, Leslie Sherwood had been attentive to Lucy
Copley in such degree that their circle confidently stood by for a
formal announcement. Then he had rather abruptly departed toward a
"business career in New York," making it plain that Hambleton would see
him no more for some while to come. His departure left clear the way
to the lady's hand for a colder, less attractive, but more determined
suitor. Lucy married Simon Varr.

She was entitled, then, to display some faint emotion at the mention of
a recreant knight, and Simon, with propriety, might have shown a
husbandly twinge of jealousy or contempt or dislike--any of a dozen
different sentiments other than the one he did reveal. At the bit of
news so casually dropped by his son, his head had jerked up sharply and
a look of fear had flashed into his eyes and out again. He had
cleverly seized upon the butler's mishap to cover his confusion, but
the ruse was too late to be effective as far as Miss Ocky was concerned.

So Simon was afraid of Leslie Sherwood, or else he had something to
fear from the sudden reappearance of that gentleman. Which was it? and
why? Miss Ocky determined to find out eventually. In the meantime she
would accept the curious circumstance and store it in that corner of
her brain where she was collecting odds and ends of data relating to
her brother-in-law.

"When did old Mr. Sherwood die?" she asked promptly.

"Last February," answered her sister. "He had been very ill for
several months--a general breakdown."

"Leslie was here at the time, I suppose."

"N-no; he wasn't. You're not posted on local topics, Ocky! This is
the first time Leslie has been back in Hambleton since he left to go
into business in New York. No one ever knew anything definite, but we
have always assumed that father and son quarreled over something so
bitterly that reconcilement was impossible. Still, when the old man
died he left everything to Leslie--and he has turned up, now. I wonder
if he will sell t