ll.

Janet and Oliver held an anxious conference that evening as they sat
on the terrace, for until that moment they had not been alone
together. She brought out the miniature and told of the astonishing
and disturbing manner in which it had come into her possession, while
Oliver wondered, in frank dismay, how it was to be restored to its
owner.

"I can't think how I came to carry it away with me," wailed Janet. "Of
course it was clutched tight in my hand and I was so frightened that I
didn't think of anything but getting away. I thought of putting it
down on the grass by the gate, but it is too valuable to risk being
lost like that. And that man will say I stole it. I don't know what to
do."

"We shall have to give it back to him," said Oliver firmly. "To-morrow
we will----" but he stopped in the middle of his sentence, unable,
even in imagination, to contemplate facing Anthony Crawford and giving
him the miniature.

"Shall we tell Cousin Jasper?" Janet suggested, but Oliver declared
against it.

"Anthony Crawford will be quite ready to say that Cousin Jasper sent
you to get it from him. The miniature and the pictures seem to be part
of the trouble, though I don't understand why. So if that man comes
here with such an accusation, it would be better for Cousin Jasper to
be able to say he knew nothing about it."

"Yes," assented Janet. "I believe, if he knew, Cousin Jasper would try
to shield us and Anthony Crawford would use it as one more thing to
hold over him. I am beginning to understand both of them better.
We--we have overlooked a good many things about Cousin Jasper."

It was only a few minutes later that Cousin Jasper joined them, nor
had he yet sat down in the long wicker chair that Oliver placed for
him, before Hotchkiss came out with a message.

"John Massey is in the kitchen, sir, and he says to tell you that he
would like to see you about something important."

"Bring him out here," Cousin Jasper directed, and, when the somewhat
embarrassed visitor in his worn best clothes appeared upon the terrace
he got up with as elaborate courtesy as he would have accorded the
most distinguished guest.

"What is it, John?" he asked, for the sunburned farmer was evidently
an old acquaintance. The other burst out with his news and his errand
at once.

"I've been turned off, sir," he said. "Told to leave the farm, with no
notice at all and my crops all in the ground. I'll admit I'm a little
behind on my ren