looking as simple and harmless a creature as one could wish to meet.

He recognised me as I approached, and came running out into the street, all smiles, to meet me. As for me, I felt a tightening round the heart as I caught sight of the man -a feeling such as one would experience in the sudden shock of a motor accident,-something was going to happen! "Dear, dear, dear! Now fancy meeting meeting you here, Seaton!" he exclaimed, shaking me vigorously by the hand. "I told you I was coming, so it surely can't be such a great surprise," I answered, none too heartily.

"Yes, yes ! But people often change their minds, and I reckoned you'd think better of it when you'd tasted the joys of London. And how is our friend the Squire-I hear they call him Laird in this wilderness — and Miss Marigold? You see, young lady," he continued, turning with great affability to Betty, who had stood by meanwhile regarding him with a smile of mingled interest and amusement, "the Doo. here and I chummed up aboard shiproosted together as you might say-and your local potentate with his daughter came over on the same boat. Quite a happy little family we were! Our friend the Squire"

"You can hardly be said to have been very intimate with him," I interrupted outtingly, incensed at his freedom towards Betty.

cer

"Oh yes, we were intimate enough. Perhaps not, strictly speaking, friendly, but tainly intimate," he replied unabashed, and chuckled over his words, as if they had some meaning known only to himself.

"That sounds almost as if you were one of the family," said Betty, smiling upon him in quite a friendly fashion, "As a rule, the closer the relationship, the more ructions there are in the camp."

"Dear, dear,' dear," exclaimed Morgan. "You are a noticing young lady."

He looked at Betty closely, as if he had suddenly seen reason to take a greater interest in her. Then suddenly I remembered the astonishing resemblance I had noticed between Morgan and young Roy Tanish. Had Betty seen it too, I wondered?

are 80

"I suppose you quainted with our friends the Tanishes?" asked Morgan of Betty.

"Yes, Marigold is almost my only girl friend."

I was surprised to find Betty so ready to be affable with Morgan, forgetting that she had none of the knowledge that rendered me so suspicious of him.

"Then, perhaps-seeing the Doo. here seems a bit touchy on the subject-perhaps you wouldn't mind telling me if they are all well and flourishing?"

"Yes, there is nothing the matter at Hopeton, so far as I know."

"Old gentleman's temper pretty much as usual?" Betty smiled, showing a sparkle of white teeth.

"Variable to stormy, speaking barometrically," she replied; "so at least I understand, for he and I are not the best of friends, and I see as little of him as possible. Are you staying long in the district, Mr- You did not mention your friend's name, Dr Seaton!" I was compelled to go through the form of an introduction.

"Ah! That's the point, Miss Forbes," said Morgan in reply to Betty's question. "I am staying as long in the district as it will take to carry through my business-and that's conundrum I can't guess the answer to."

"Somewhat vague," agreed

Betty.

"Perhaps you'd drop in and see me in this one-horse hotel, Seaton," said Morgan, turning again to me. "Have a chat talk over old times. There's one or two things I'd like to say to you, if I may."

I thought it much safer to have nothing todo with the man, but on the other hand I was anxious to know if he intended to come to Hopeton-and, if so, when. I felt sure he would cause trouble, and I wanted to be able to warn Marigold in advance. She, who knew the circumstances, would be able to judge if it was possible to keep

him away.

With this passing through my mind, I agreed to call at the hotel before I left the

village, and we parted for the

moment.

"I like your Mr Morgan," said Betty, as we continued up the village street. "He looks honest in a way, and yet he seems to be pretty cute-a wily variety of bird, I should think. He has an innocent kind of look which is mostly smile and spectacles. Take both of these away and he would be different man altogether-and yet I like him,"

8

I had a momentary picture of Morgan as I had seen him that night in our cabin with his glasses off, and I marvelled at Betty's rapid and accurate judgment. I wondered if she was equally justified in liking the man.

Dr Forbes was away at an outlying farm, so Betty and I had tea entirely by ourselves. As the conversation still turned upon Morgan, in whom Betty seemed to take a great interest, I described my meeting with him aboard the Sphinx, and told her of the feud that seemed to exist between Morgan and the Tanishes. I did not feel justified in speaking of Laird Tanish's nocturnal visit to our cabin, but with that exception I related pretty much what I have already set down of our life aboard ship.

"So, you see," I concluded, "you are quite right in thinking that Morgan is not so simple as he looks. Whether he is honest or not is another matter."

"I don't see that you have told me anything against the poor man," replied Betty.

"The fact that the Monster of the Glen was horribly down on him is rather in his favour. As for Marigold, she told you there was nothing against him, and yet she was very rude to him when he spoke to her. But then girls are rather unaccountable. She may be fond of him! That would explain her contradictions."

"You don't seem to have a high opinion of your sex, then?" I said inquiringly.

"No woman has!" she answered. "Each of us thinks she is the only sensible one in the mob. That is why women sondescend to one another so much and hate each other for doing so. But we are getting away from Mr Morgan. Do you know, I am quite certain that he is a Tanish." "I think you must be right," I agreed. "He certainly resembles Roy."

"Yes, and the Monster too. But I thought you had never met Roy?"

"I did once," I replied. "I might as well tell you, though I have kept the story to myself so far."

I must admit that I found it difficult to keep anything from Betty. She was so ready to be interested in what one had to say, and so honest and open herself, that it seemed the most natural thing pessible to tell her things that one would not have dreamt of mentioning to another. So now I found myself describing to her my arrival in Kilbrennan, and my meeting with Roy Tanish and his wife. I told

her everything as it had happened, up to the time of my appearance at the door of Hopeton.

"You are a regular mine of mysteries," she said, when I reached the end of my story. "I can't make head or tail of it all. Do you believe that some one shot Mrs Roy?"

I nodded, but said nothing.

"Unless it was the Monster himself, in a more boisterous frame of mind than usual, I don't know any one in the neighbourhood who would be likely to do such a thing."

I began to wish that I had not told the story. The Laird had been out with a shot-gun that night!

"Then you go dragging in a mysterious paper, which prebably means nothing at alland blood-stains on it, bless you! You really ought to be at Scotland Yard, or even Baker Street, Bob!"

We had drifted to the use of one another's Christian names in the course of our country walks. With such a friendly girl as Betty it was inevitable.

"Are you on calling terms at Blackdykes?" I asked.

"I called once, but I don't seem to get on with Marie, and she never returned the visit. Still, I have a good mind to go and see that she is all right. They never sent for the Dad, so the injury could not have been serious."

We drifted away from the subject, and shortly afterwards I remembered my appointment with Morgan, and took my leave.

Morgan received me effusively when I entered the little sitting-room he had engaged at the Hopeton Arms.

"Come along in, Seaton. Take the arm-ohair. I'm afraid it is a bit hard though, like everything else in our poor old motherland. Dear, dear! Fancy us both turning out to be Scotch in the roots. We must have been thrown together by Providence, Seaton, so that you might be able to help me in my plans."

"It couldn't have been Providence, for Providence never makes mistakes," I replied. "I don't intend to be mixed up in your plans, whatever they may be. I am engaged by Tanish to look after his boy-Tanish and you are on bad terms. Obviously it is not to my advantage to have anything to do with you."

"Dear, dear, dear! You are very impetuous, Seaton. But I like a man that speaks out what is in his mind. You are quite wrong, though. It may be far more to your advantage to be friendly with me than with Tanish. Besides, I don't want to compromise you with your employer. On the contrary"

"Look here, Morgan," I interrupted; "the only help you can get from me is in the way of advice and my advice is, clear out of the distriot. I don't know what little game

you have on, but I'm sure you are going to make trouble at Hopeton. You once told me you had a great admiration for Miss Tanish. You will cause her a lot of anxiety if you stay. We have just suceeeded in getting her father into a quieter frame of mind, and everything is going on swimmingly. Your appear

ance will rouse the Laird to new spasms of rage. You know that you always affect him in that way."

66

'Very true, Seaton, what you say," agreed Morgan, who had listened mildly to all my remarks. "But don't don't you think that you look at things too much from the Tanish point of view. What about the Morgan side of it, now? Here's me, travelled all the way from London to my benighted motherland for the purpose of ingratiating myself with Marigold Tanish. Now you may take it from me, Seaton, that I don't leave until I've got round that girl! I've got to see her, I've got to talk to her and explain things a bit, and it's up to you to get me the first interview without the Squire knowing of it."

All this was said in Morgan's customary gentle deprecating way, but I knew enough of him by this time to be sure that he meant every word, did not mean to be browbeaten into acting as his oat's-paw, however.

I