Jane, huskily,
for there was a horrible fear at her heart, though she resolutely kept
it to herself. "Perhaps master may be in a fit," she whispered.

The Rector was there in a few minutes, and after knocking and calling,
he, too, turned pale, as the doctor now appeared upon the scene.

"Locked on the inside," said the latter, after a momentary examination.
"The door must be broken open, and at once. Is there a carpenter upon
the premises?"

There was no carpenter, but one of the gardeners had some skill in doing
odd jobs about the place, and he was known to possess a basket of tools.
His name was therefore suggested.

"Fetch him at once!" exclaimed the Doctor, as excited now as any one
present; and amidst an awe-stricken silence, the gardener's advent was
awaited.

But it took a good quarter of an hour to seek Alexander McCray, and
during that period of breathless expectation, not a soul present thought
of the possibility of an entrance being effected by the window. Thomas
had peered twice through the key-hole, looking round afterwards with a
pale, blank face, when seeing that it would probably be a quicker way of
obtaining information than questioning, Dr Challen knelt down himself,
to peer for some time through the narrow aperture, when he, too, rose,
thoughtful and silent, the Rector refraining from questioning him, and
no one else daring to do so. What Thomas had seen he at length
communicated in whispers, but they did not reach the Rector, who, with a
shuddering sensation oppressing him, kept on, in spite of himself,
watching--as if his eyes were specially there attracted--the narrow slit
beneath the door, as if expecting that some trace might probably there
show itself of what had taken place within the room.

"Is this man coming?" exclaimed the Doctor at last; and another
messenger was sent, while the women huddled together, whispering, and
more than one thinking that that morning's occurrences might result in a
general discharge of servants, and a breaking up of the Castle
establishment.

At last, though, there was the sound of footsteps, and very slowly and
leisurely the Scotch gardener made his appearance, walking with the
cumbersome gait of the men of the scythe and spade--slow, as a rule, as
the growth of the plants they tend.

"Now, for Heaven's sake, be smart, my good fellow!" exclaimed the
Doctor.

"Ye'll be wanting the door open, will ye?" said Alexander, slowly.

"Yes--yes!" exclaimed