ye lighted on me, and a slinking figure I must have
presented in spite of my usual courage, for he only turned one thumb
back over his shoulder with a comical smile, and bade me get to bed,
because when he was young he, too, knew what keyholes were good for.

The word "too" hurt me, for it meant that he thought I was going to
eavesdrop, whereas I was merely, for the sake of Irma and the family,
endeavouring to satisfy a perfectly legitimate curiosity.

I did, however, hear him say as he shut and locked the parlour door,
"Now, sir, the play is played. Sit up and take off that clout. Let us
talk out this affair like men!"

It was now night, and we were gathered in the kitchen. I do not think
that even Rob took much supper. I know that but for my grandfather the
horses would have had to go without theirs--and this, the most sacred
duty of mankind about a farm, would for once have been neglected. We
sat, mainly in the dark, with only the red glow of the fire in our
faces, listening to the voice of a man that came in stormy gusts. The
lamp had been left on the parlour table to give them light, and somehow
we were so preoccupied that none of us thought of lighting a candle.

The great voice of Mr. Richard dominated us--so full of contempt and
anger it was. We could not in the least distinguish what the impostor
said in reply. Indeed, Rob and I could just hear a kind of roopy
clattering like that of a hungry hen complaining to the vague Powers
which rule the times and seasons of distribution from the "daich" bowl.

There was something very strange in all this--so strange that when my
grandfather came back, for the first time in the history of Heathknowes,
no chapter was read, no psalm sung or prayer read. Somehow it seemed
like an impiety in the face of what was going on down there. Mr. Richard
talked far the most. At first his mood was all of stormy anger, and the
replies of the other, as I have said, almost inaudible.

But after a while these bursts of bellowing became less frequent. The
low replying voice grew, if not louder, more persistent. Mr. Richard
seemed to be denying or refusing something in short gruff gasps of
breath.

"No, no--no! By heaven, sir, NO!" we heard him cry plainly. And somehow
hearing that, Irma crept closer to me, and slid her hand in mine, a
thing which she had not done since the night of watching in the Old
House of Marnhoul.

Somehow both of us knew that it was a question of herself.

Th