was not much doubt about the place of his first visit after an
absence. She had, in fact, seen Fitzpiers take the direction of the
Manor House.

Melbury said no more. It was exasperating to him that just at this
moment, when there was every reason for Fitzpiers to stay indoors, or
at any rate to ride along the Shottsford road to meet his ailing wife,
he should be doing despite to her by going elsewhere. The old man went
out-of-doors again; and his horse being hardly unsaddled as yet, he
told Upjohn to retighten the girths, when he again mounted, and rode
off at the heels of the surgeon.

By the time that Melbury reached the park, he was prepared to go any
lengths in combating this rank and reckless errantry of his daughter's
husband. He would fetch home Edgar Fitzpiers to-night by some means,
rough or fair: in his view there could come of his interference nothing
worse than what existed at present. And yet to every bad there is a
worse.

He had entered by the bridle-gate which admitted to the park on this
side, and cantered over the soft turf almost in the tracks of
Fitzpiers's horse, till he reached the clump of trees under which his
precursor had halted. The whitish object that was indistinctly visible
here in the gloom of the boughs he found to be Darling, as left by
Fitzpiers.

"D--n him! why did he not ride up to the house in an honest way?" said
Melbury.

He profited by Fitzpiers's example; dismounting, he tied his horse
under an adjoining tree, and went on to the house on foot, as the other
had done. He was no longer disposed to stick at trifles in his
investigation, and did not hesitate to gently open the front door
without ringing.

The large square hall, with its oak floor, staircase, and wainscot, was
lighted by a dim lamp hanging from a beam. Not a soul was visible. He
went into the corridor and listened at a door which he knew to be that
of the drawing-room; there was no sound, and on turning the handle he
found the room empty. A fire burning low in the grate was the sole
light of the apartment; its beams flashed mockingly on the somewhat
showy Versaillese furniture and gilding here, in style as unlike that
of the structural parts of the building as it was possible to be, and
probably introduced by Felice to counteract the fine old-English gloom
of the place. Disappointed in his hope of confronting his son-in-law
here, he went on to the dining-room; this was without light or fire,
and pe