"and a brisk walk will do me good." At another time she would have smiled at the timidity of her friends on account of the weather.

"You will catch your death of cold, dear,” said Mrs. Joy," and then you will not be able to come to Edwin's lecture next week. I assure you it is the most interesting one he has yet delivered."

Even the danger of missing the doctor's lecture was not enough to deter her from walking home. As she was passing the King's Head, the Ringsford carriage drew up at the door, and out of it jumped Coutts Hadleigh, in the full uniform of a captain of Volunteers. He was taken by surprise, and uttered a natural exclamation :

'Why, what brings you so far from home on such an evening as this? There is going to be a regular out and outer of a snowstorm, and I would not be here myself, only this is the night of the feed I give every year to my men, and all the arrangements were made.”

She was more pleased to meet him than she was generally, for he might be able to give her some news of Philip. So, without troubling to answer his inquiries, she put her

own.

"Don't know anything about him," he answered--callously, as she thought, "except that he has got into a precious scrape, and will disgrace our family, unless that uncle of his helps him out of it."

"Disgrace? How is it disgrace to fail in a noble enterprise?"

"Ah, it's something worse than failing in a noble enterprise," answered Coutts, returning to his habitual tone of cynical indifference. "But don't let us talk about it, if you please. I would rather not, even to you, until all the ins and outs are known. . . . . Is Crawshay

inside?"

"No; I am alone. When will you know about your brother's affairs?"

"I cannot say; but he will tell you about them; and if he doesn't, I will.

all

Mean

while, let me do him a service-get into the carriage, and Toomey will drive you home. I am sure that is what Phil and the guv'nor, too, would say, if they found you trudging along the road in such weather. Do get in, or they will both have me down in their black books. The carriage is not to come back for me, so you won't give the horses any extra work."

She consented; and Toomey, who was glad enough to turn homeward for his own comfort as well as that of the horses, wheeled round, and drove off at a good pace. A little way out of the village they nearly ran over a man, who, walking in the same direction, had not heard the carriage making up on him, either on account of the preoccupation of his thoughts or the thick carpeting of snow on the road.

"All right," growled the man, having saved himself, and Toomey drove on.

Madge recognized the voice of Caleb Kersey. She would have liked to speak to

him, but it was too late. She supposed, however, that he was on his way to visit Sam Culver, from whom he would learn the cause of Pansy's disappearance. Caleb was on this quest, as she surmised, and he was going to Ringsford, but not to seek information from the gardener.

VOL III.

I

CHAPTER XLIX.

AT MIDNIGHT.

COUTTS HADLEIGH relished good wine; but he was cautious in his cups, as in everything else. On this evening, however, he "drank fair," as it is called, with his comrades; and those who were acquainted with his habits noted the fact with increasing curiosity as the evening advanced. This was the fifth annual dinner he had given to "his men" since the captain's commission had been thrust upon him, and he had on no previous occasion displayed so much hilarity, or provided so many cynical anecdotes for the entertainment of the company. His lieutenant and ensign-both proprietors of the land they farmed-concluded that the captain must have made some exceptionally lucky stroke in business recently. Coutts believed he had.