ing morning, my Lord Grimsby, that
the truth was revealed to me, for Lord Farquhart's own servant
returned to the Lady Barbara, in my presence, the jewels that had been
stolen the night before, the jewels and the rose the highwayman had
taken from her."

"You forget the jeweled gauntlet, Mr. Ashley." Again it was Jack
Grimsby's sneering voice that interrupted Ashley's tale. "Did my Lord
Farquhart keep his lady's glove when he returned the other baubles?"

Ashley's face flushed, but he looked steadily at Lord Grimsby; he
directed the conclusion of his story to Lord Grimsby's ears.

"It was then that the Lady Barbara confessed, much against her will, I
will admit, that it was indeed her cousin and her fiance who had
waylaid her, merely to confess to her his identity with this bandit
whose life is, assuredly, forfeit to the crown."

Lord Farquhart had listened in tense silence. Now he started forward,
his hand on his sword, but his arms were caught by two of Lord
Grimsby's men. "You will admit, my Lord Farquhart, that the matter
demands explanation," said the councillor, dryly. "How came you by the
jewels and rose? Can you tell us? And what of the missing gauntlet?"

"The rings and the rose my servant found in my coat," answered
Farquhart, his eyes so intent on his questioner's face that he failed
to see the smile that curved the lips of those who heard him. "The
gauntlet I never saw, I never had it in my possession for a moment."

"How did you account for the jewels in your coat if you did not put
them there yourself?" demanded Lord Grimsby.

"At first I was at a loss to account for them at all." Lord
Farquhart's voice showed plainly that he resented the change in his
questioner's manner. "I recalled my cousin's confusion when she had
told her tale of highway robbery, and all at once it seemed to me that
the whole affair was an invention of her own, some madcap jest that
she was playing on me, perchance to test my bravery, to see if I would
ride forthwith after the villain. If so, I had failed her signally,
for I had accepted her commands and gone with her straight to London.
I supposed, in furtherance of this idea, that she had hired her own
servant, or bribed mine, to hide the jewels in my coat. I never
thought once of the gauntlet she had claimed to lose, never remembered
it from that night until now. I sent the jewels to her, and later in
the day I taxed her with the jest, and she agreed, it seemed to me,
that