he outcropping rock. Then he
seemed to breathe more freely, and recovered some of his jaunty
impudence.

All this seemed to satisfy Adam's expectations. He went back to Lesser
Hill with a serene and settled calm upon him. Sir Nathaniel followed him
into his study.

"By the way, I forgot to ask you details about one thing. When that
extraordinary staring episode of Mr. Caswall went on, how did Lilla take
it--how did she bear herself?"

"She looked frightened, and trembled just as I have seen a pigeon with a
hawk, or a bird with a serpent."

"Thanks. It is just as I expected. There have been circumstances in the
Caswall family which lead one to believe that they have had from the
earliest times some extraordinary mesmeric or hypnotic faculty. Indeed,
a skilled eye could read so much in their physiognomy. That shot of
yours, whether by instinct or intention, of the hawk and the pigeon was
peculiarly apposite. I think we may settle on that as a fixed trait to
be accepted throughout our investigation."

When dusk had fallen, Adam took the new mongoose--not the one from
Nepaul--and, carrying the box slung over his shoulder, strolled towards
Diana's Grove. Close to the gateway he met Lady Arabella, clad as usual
in tightly fitting white, which showed off her slim figure.

To his intense astonishment the mongoose allowed her to pet him, take him
up in her arms and fondle him. As she was going in his direction, they
walked on together.

Round the roadway between the entrances of Diana's Grove and Lesser Hill
were many trees, with not much foliage except at the top. In the dusk
this place was shadowy, and the view was hampered by the clustering
trunks. In the uncertain, tremulous light which fell through the tree-
tops, it was hard to distinguish anything clearly, and at last, somehow,
he lost sight of her altogether, and turned back on his track to find
her. Presently he came across her close to her own gate. She was
leaning over the paling of split oak branches which formed the paling of
the avenue. He could not see the mongoose, so he asked her where it had
gone.

"He slipt out of my arms while I was petting him," she answered, "and
disappeared under the hedges."

They found him at a place where the avenue widened so as to let carriages
pass each other. The little creature seemed quite changed. He had been
ebulliently active; now he was dull and spiritless--seemed to be dazed.
He allowed himself t