ainted with her story," began
Mr. Juxon. "Do not be surprised. She saw fit to tell it me herself."

"Indeed?" exclaimed the vicar in considerable astonishment. In that case,
he argued quickly, Mr. Juxon was not thinking of marrying her.

"Yes--it is not necessary to go into that," said Mr. Juxon quickly. "The
thing I want to tell you is this--Goddard the forger has escaped--"

"Escaped?" echoed the vicar in real alarm. "You don't mean to say so!"

"Gall the constable came here this morning," continued Mr. Juxon. "He
told me that there were general orders out for his arrest."

"How in the world did he get out?" cried the vicar. "I thought nobody was
ever known to escape from Portland!"

"So did I. But this fellow has--somehow. Gall did not know. Now, the
question is, what is to be done?"

"I am sure I don't know," returned the vicar, thrusting his hands into
his pockets and marching to the window, the wide skirts of his coat
seeming to wave with agitation as he walked.

Mr. Juxon also put his hands into his pockets, but he stood still upon
the hearth-rug and looked at the ceiling, softly whistling a little tune,
a habit he had in moments of great anxiety. For three or four minutes
neither of the two spoke.

"Would you tell Mrs. Goddard--or not?" asked Mr. Juxon at last.

"I don't know," said the vicar. "I am amazed beyond measure." He turned
and slowly came back to the table.

"I don't know either," replied the squire. "That is precisely the point
upon which I think we ought to decide. I have known about the story for
some time, but I did not anticipate that it would take this turn."

"I think," said Mr. Ambrose after another pause, "I think that if there
is any likelihood of the fellow finding her out, we ought to tell her. If
not I think we had better wait until he is caught. He is sure to be
caught, of course."

"I entirely agree with you," returned Mr. Juxon. "Only--how on earth are
we to find out whether he is likely to come here or not? If any one knows
where he is, he is as good as caught already. If nobody knows, we can
certainly have no means of telling."

The argument was unanswerable. Again there was a long silence. The vicar
walked about the room in great perplexity.

"Dear me! Dear me! What a terrible business!" he repeated, over and over
again.

"Do you think we are called upon to do anything?" he asked at last,
stopping in his walk immediately in front of Mr. Juxon.

"If we can do anyth