s in the Squire's
buggy, so as to lose no time. Wilkinson was warned not to post the
letter before his comrade's return. While waiting in the office, Mr.
Errol, whose heart was deeply touched, locked the door again, saying:
"John, let us kneel down and pray our Heavenly Father to comfort our
friend in his great sorrow, and bless him in his present work." The
Squire knelt with the minister, and the detective fell on his knees
beside him, their hearts joining in the quiet but earnest supplications
of the good man of religion. When they rose from their knees, Nash,
almost tearfully, pressed their hands and bade God bless them.

Coristine enjoyed the society of Miss Du Plessis; nevertheless he drove
fast, for the business demanded haste. The buggy returned in little over
half an hour, and the bundle was handed to the detective, who took it up
stairs, and, soon after, descended as a countryman, in flannel shirt,
light soiled coat, and overalls. The rim of his wideawake was drawn down
all round, half hiding his face disguised with a ragged beard. It could
not conceal his refined, almost aristocratic, features, but such a
country type is not uncommon in many parts of Canada, even accompanied
with perfect boorishness. His boots were small, which also was quite
Canadian, but he had rubbed the blacking off, and trusted to the dust
still further to disguise them. Smiling and courteous, he bade everybody
whom he could trust good-bye, and slipped a large pocket-book full of
money and memoranda into the hands of the Squire. "You can keep it till
I come back," he said; "if I don't, get Mr. Errol and this lawyer chap,
who seems a good fellow, to help you to make it out." Then, the dominie
expressed his readiness to take the note to the post office, and Miss Du
Plessis, a little piqued at Coristine's apparent want of attention to
her, said that, if Mr. Wilkinson had no objections, she should, above
all things, like a short walk after a cramping drive. The schoolmaster
was only too delighted, in spite of Mr. Perrowne's glance of jealousy,
which Miss Halbert saw and noted with a tap of her dainty foot on the
verandah. So, Wilkinson and his inamorata tripped along the road, and,
some distance behind them, shambled Simon Larkin, the hawbuck from away
back, alias Mr. Nash. The children came out to play, led by Marjorie.
Perrowne was still talking to Miss Halbert, Mr. Errol was closeted with
the Squire, and the Captain and the veteran, on a ga