ever
the chapel is mentioned."

And then there was the matter of the murder, and the somewhat sad
consideration of Sam's protracted absence.

"And will you have to pay four hundred pounds, Mr. Fenwick?" Mary
asked.

"I shall be liable to pay it if he does not appear to-morrow, and no
doubt must absolutely pay it if he does not turn up soon."

"But you don't think that he was one of them?"

"I am quite sure he was not. But he has had trouble in his family,
and he got into a quarrel, and I fancy he has left the country. The
police say that he has been traced to Liverpool."

"And will the other men be convicted?" Mrs. Fenwick asked.

"I believe they will, and most fervently hope so. They have some
evidence about the wheels of a small cart in which Burrows certainly,
and, I believe, no doubt Acorn also, were seen to drive across
Pycroft Common early on the Sunday morning. A part of the tire had
come off, and another bit, somewhat broader, and an inch or so too
short, had been substituted. The impress made by this wheel in the
mud, just round the corner by the farm gate, was measured and copied
at the time, and they say that this will go far to identify the men.
That the man's cart was there is certain,--also that he was in the
same cart at Pycroft Common an hour or two after the murder."

"That does seem clear," said Mary.

"But somebody suggests that Sam had borrowed the cart. I believe,
however, that it will all come out;--only, if I have to pay four
hundred pounds I shall think that Farmer Trumbull has cost me very
dear."

On the next morning Gilmore came to the vicarage. It had been
arranged that he would drive Fenwick over to Heytesbury, and that he
would call for him after breakfast. A somewhat late hour,--two in the
afternoon,--had been fixed for going on with the murder case, as it
was necessary that a certain constable should come down from London
on that morning; and, therefore, there would be no need for the two
men to start very early from Bullhampton. This was explained to Mary
by Mrs. Fenwick. "He dines here to-day," she had said when they met
in the morning before prayers, "and you may as well get over the
first awkwardness at once." Mary had assented to this, and, after
breakfast, Gilmore made his appearance among them in the garden. He
was just one moment alone with the girl he loved.

"Miss Lowther," he said, "I cannot be with you for an instant without
telling you that I am unchanged."

M