also, and made for the Colchester train.
I gave him the slip, got the right ticket, and came on. I've no doubt
he is at Colchester at this moment."

"Remember, my boy," the merchant said, as they turned from the door,
"this is the last of our trials. If we succeed in this, all is well for
the future."

"We have tried diamonds, and we have tried marriage. The third time is
the charm," said Ezra, as he threw away his cigar and followed his
father.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

THE INCIDENT OF THE CORRIDOR.

Ezra Girdlestone hardly went through the formality of greeting Kate next
morning when she came down to breakfast. He was evidently ill at ease,
and turned away his eyes when she looked at him, though he glanced at
her furtively from time to time. His father chatted with him upon City
matters, but the young man's answers were brusque and monosyllabic.
His sleep had been troubled and broken, for the conversation of the
night before had obtruded unpleasantly on his dreams.

Kate slipped away from them as soon as she could and, putting on her
bonnet, went for a long walk through the grounds, partly for the sake of
exercise, and partly in the hope of finding some egress. The one-eyed
gate-keeper was at his post, and set up a hideous shout of laughter when
he saw her; so she branched off among the trees to avoid him, and walked
once more very carefully round the boundary wall. It was no easy matter
to follow it continuously, for the briars and brambles grew in a
confused tangle up to its very base. By perseverance, however, she
succeeded in tracing every foot of it, and so satisfying herself finally
that there was no diminution anywhere in its height, no break in its
continuity, save the one small wooden door which was securely fastened.

There was one spot, however, where a gleam of hope presented itself.
At an angle of the wall there stood a deserted wooden shed, which had
been used for the protection of gardeners' tools in the days when the
grounds had been kept in better order. It was not buttressed up against
the wall, but stood some eight or ten feet from it. Beside the shed was
an empty barrel which had once been a water-butt. The girl managed to
climb to the top of the barrel, and from this she was easily able to
gain the sloping roof of the shed. Up this she clambered until she
stood upon the summit, a considerable height above the ground. From it
she was able to look down over the wall on to the coun