e, and looked full into his companion's face.
He felt at the moment that the idea had some reference to Mountjoy
Scarborough and his disappearance. They were together on the heathy,
unenclosed ground of Cannock Chase, and had already walked some ten or
twelve miles. "He thinks you know where Mountjoy is."

"Why should I know?"

"Or at any rate that you have seen him since any of us. He professes not
to care a straw for Mountjoy or his whereabouts, and declares himself
under obligation to those who have contrived his departure.
Nevertheless, he is curious."

"What have I to do with Mountjoy Scarborough?"

"That's just the question. What have you to do with him? He suggests
that there have been words between you as to Florence, which has caused
Mountjoy to vanish. I don't profess to explain anything beyond
that,--nor, indeed, do I profess to agree with my father. But the odd
thing is that Prodgers, the policeman, has the same thing running in his
head."

"Because I have shown some anxiety about your brother in Scotland Yard."

"No doubt; Prodgers says that you've shown more anxiety than was to be
expected from a mere acquaintance. I quite acknowledge that Prodgers is
as thick-headed an idiot as you shall catch on a summer's day; but
that's his opinion. For myself, I know your word too well to doubt it."
Harry walked on in silence, thinking, or trying to think, what, on the
spur of the moment, he had better do. He was minded to speak out the
whole truth, and declare to himself that it was nothing to him what
Augustus Scarborough might say or think. And there was present to him a
feeling that his companion was dealing unfairly with him, and was
endeavoring in some way to trap him and lead him into a difficulty. But
he had made up his mind, as it were, not to know anything of Mountjoy
Scarborough, and to let those five minutes in the street be as though
they had never been. He had been brutally attacked, and had thought it
best to say nothing on the subject. He would not allow his secret, such
as it was, to be wormed out of him. Scarborough was endeavoring to
extort from him that which he had resolved to conceal; and he determined
at last that he would not become a puppet in his hands. "I don't see why
you should care a straw about it," said Scarborough.

"Nor do I."

"At any rate you repeat your denial. It will be well that I should let
my father know that he is mistaken, and also that ass Prodgers. Of
course, wit