Page:Alice Stuyvesant - The Vanity Box.djvu/62

 Rose guessed what was in his mind. "No, no, sir," she said firmly. "You mustn't go back there alone, whatever it is. It wouldn't do, on any account, especially if — if it's an affair for the police."

"What does it matter!" he murmured, as though to himself. "I can't leave her there alone — any longer. Go send the man to Riding St. Mary."

Mrs. Barnard went; and when she came back, Sir Ian Hereward had gone.

It was not until she stood in the arbour, gazing down the path toward the open gate, wishing with all her soul for Tom to come, that she remembered the two shots in the woods which Kate Craigie had said "sounded queer."

What if But no, such things did not happen in this sweet, quiet country which she loved. Such things could not happen to a great lady, a good lady, like Lady Hereward.

And then she saw Tom stopping his bicycle at the gate.