ght of anybody
in trouble stirs you--but I don't feel able to bear your sympathy."

"Then I'll have to offer it to Lisle," she smiled. "But I'll walk with
you to the lodge; and then you had better go in and keep quiet until you
get back your nerve."

When she left Gladwyne she went on to Nasmyth's, where she waited until
the doctor on leaving told her that he was perfectly satisfied with the
prospect for the Canadian's recovery. It would, he said, be merely a
question of lying still for a considerable time. Millicent was conscious
of a relief which puzzled her by its intensity as she heard the news, but
she asked Nasmyth to send somebody to inform Gladwyne.

"I think he's desperately anxious and feeling the thing very badly," she
concluded.

"Then he could have come over to inquire, as you have done," Nasmyth
answered. "In my opinion, he deserves to be uncomfortable."

"Why are you so hard on him?"

The man's face grew grim.

"I've had to help Irvine with Lisle, for one thing. We were satisfied
that his injuries were not caused by the bay rolling on him; he seems to
have escaped from that with a few bad bruises. The worst of the accident
might have been avoided if Clarence had had nerve enough."

"But you couldn't blame him very greatly for losing his head--he had no
warning, scarcely a moment to think. It was so sudden."

"The result's the same," retorted Nasmyth. "Lisle has to pay. But to
please you I'll send Clarence word that Irvine's not anxious about him."

CHAPTER XVIII

A PRUDENT DECISION

It had been dark some time and the night was raw, but Jim Crestwick
strolled up and down the drive to Marple's house, thinking unusually
hard. In the first place, part at least of the folly of his conduct
during the last year or two had been plainly brought home to him, and the
realization was bitter. It was galling to discover that while he had
regarded himself as a man of the world he had been systematically
victimized by the men who had encouraged him in the delusion. He felt
very sore as he remembered how much he owed Batley, but this troubled him
less than the downright abhorrence of Gladwyne which had suddenly
possessed him. He had looked up to the latter as a model and had tried to
copy his manners; and it was chiefly because Batley was a friend of
Gladwyne's that he had paid toll to him. For he had felt that whatever
the man he admired was willing to countenance must be the correct thing.
Now he