the line was lowered without result. In his
eagerness he forgot his fears, and with eyes bent down the well fished
slowly and carefully. Twice the hook became entangled in something, and
was with difficulty released. It caught a third time, and all his
efforts failed' to free it. Then he dropped the line down the well,
and with head bent walked toward the house.

He went first to the stables at the rear, and then retiring to his room
for some time paced restlessly up and down. Then without removing his
clothes he flung himself upon the bed and fell into a troubled sleep.

III.

Long before anybody else was astir he arose and stole softly downstairs.
The sunlight was stealing in at every crevice, and flashing in long
streaks across the darkened rooms. The dining-room into which he looked
struck chill and cheerless in the dark yellow light which came through
the lowered blinds. He remembered that it had the same appearance when
his father lay dead in the house; now, as then, everything seemed ghastly
and unreal; the very chairs standing as their occupants had left them the
night before seemed to be indulging in some dark communication of ideas.

Slowly and noiselessly he opened the hall door and passed into the
fragrant air beyond. The sun was shining on the drenched grass and
trees, and a slowly vanishing white mist rolled like smoke about the
grounds. For a moment he stood, breathing deeply the sweet air of the
morning, and then walked slowly in the direction of the stables.

The rusty creaking of a pump-handle and a spatter of water upon the
red-tiled courtyard showed that somebody else was astir, and a few steps
farther he beheld a brawny, sandy-haired man gasping wildly under severe
self-infliction at the pump.

"Everything ready, George?" he asked quietly.

"Yes, sir," said the man, straightening up suddenly and touching his
forehead. "Bob's just finishing the arrangements inside. It's a lovely
morning for a dip. The water in that well must be just icy."

"Be as quick as you can," said Benson, impatiently.

"Very good, sir," said George, burnishing his face harshly with a very
small towel which had been hanging over the top of the pump. "Hurry up,
Bob."

In answer to his summons a man appeared at the door of the stable with a
coil of stout rope over his arm and a large metal candlestick in his
hand.

"Just to try the air, sir," said George, following his master's glance,
"a well gets rat