<h2><SPAN name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></SPAN>CHAPTER XIX.</h2>
<h3>THE FIRE AT CARNE'S HOLD.</h3>
<p>Things went on quietly with Mr. Armstrong and his daughter after the
latter had despatched her letter, saying that Ruth Powlett was ready to
confess the truth respecting George Forester. The excitement of
following up the clue was over, and there was nothing to do until they
heard from Ronald as to how he wished them to proceed. So one morning
Mr. Armstrong came down and told Mary to pack up at once and start with
him at twelve o'clock for London. "We are getting like two owls, and
must wake ourselves up a bit." Mary ran down to the mill to say good-bye
to Ruth, and tell her that she and her father had to go to London for a
short time. They were ready by the time named, for there was little
packing to do, and at twelve o'clock the trap from the "Carne's Arms"
came up to the door, and took them to the station. A month was spent in
London, sight-seeing. By the end of that time both had had enough of
theatres and exhibitions, and returned to Carnesford.</p>
<p>"Well, what is the news, neighbours?" Mr. Armstrong asked, as he entered
the snuggery on the evening of his return.</p>
<p>"There is not much news here," Jacob Carey said; "there never is much
news to speak of in Carnesford; but they say things are not going on
well up at The Hold."</p>
<p>"In what way, Mr. Carey?"</p>
<p>"Well, for some time there has been a talk that the Squire was getting
strange in his ways. He was never bright and cheerful like Miss
Margaret, but always seemed to be a-thinking, and as often as not when
he rode through here, would take no more notice of you when he passed
than if you hadn't been there. He was always wonderful fond of books
they say, and when a man takes to books, I don't think he is much good
for anything else; but ever since Miss Margaret's death, he has been
queerer than before, and they said he had a way of walking about the
house all hours of the night. So it went on until just lately. Now it
seems he is worse than ever. They can hear him talking to himself, and
laughing in a way as would make you creep. Folks say as the curse of the
Carnes has fallen on him bad, and that he is as mad as his grandfather
was. The women have all left except the old cook, who has got a girl to
stay with her. They lock the door at night, and they have got the men
from the stable to sleep in the house unknown to the master. One day
last week, when Mr. Carne was out for the day, old Hester came down and
saw the parson, and he sent for Dr. Arrowsmith, and they had a quiet
talk over it. You see it is a mighty awkward thing to meddle with. Mr.
Carne has got no relations so far as is known, except Mrs. Mervyn's
daughters, who are away living, I hear, at Hastings, and Captain Mervyn,
who is God knows where. Of course, he is the heir, if the Squire doesn't
marry and have children, and if he were here it would be his business to
interfere and have the Squire looked after or shut up if needs be; but
there don't seem any one to take the matter up now. The doctor told
Hester that he could do nothing without being called in and seeing for
himself that Mr. Carne was out of his mind. The parson said the only
thing she could do was to go to Mr. Volkes, the magistrate, and tell him
she thought there was danger of murder if something wasn't done. Hester
has got plenty of courage, and said she didn't think there was any
danger to her, 'cause the Squire had known her from the time he had
known anything."</p>
<p>"I don't know," Mr. Armstrong said. "Mad people are often more dangerous
to those they care for than to strangers. Really, this is very serious,
for from what you have told me, the madness of the Carnes is always of a
dangerous kind. One thing is quite evident—Captain Mervyn ought to come
back at once. There have been tragedies enough at Carne's Hold without
another."</p>
<p>"Ay, and there will be," put in Reuben Claphurst, "as long as Carne's
Hold stands; the curse of the Spanish woman rests upon it."</p>
<p>"What you say is right enough, Mr. Armstrong," Hiram Powlett agreed. "No
doubt the Miss Mervyns know where their brother is, and could let him
know; but would he come back again? I have always said as how we should
never see Captain Mervyn back again in these parts until the matter of
Miss Carne's death was cleared up."</p>
<p>Mr. Armstrong sat looking at the fire. "He must be got back," he said.
"If what you say is true, and Mr. Carne's going off his head, he must be
got back."</p>
<p>Hiram Powlett shook his head.</p>
<p>"He must come back," Mr. Armstrong repeated; "it's his duty, pleasant or
unpleasant. It may be that he is on his way home now; but if not, it
would hasten him. You look surprised, and no wonder; but I may now tell
you, what I haven't thought it necessary to mention to you before—mind,
you must promise to keep it to yourselves—I met Captain Mervyn out at
the Cape, and made his acquaintance there. He was passing under another
name, but we got to be friends, and he told me his story. I have written
to him once or twice since, and I will write to him now and tell him
that if he hasn't already started for home, it's his duty to do so. I
suppose it was partly his talking to me about this place that made me
come here to see it at first, and then I took to it."</p>
<p>The surprise of the others at finding that Mr. Armstrong knew Ronald
was very great. "I wonder you didn't mention it before," Jacob Carey
said, giving voice to the common feeling. "We have talked about him so
often, and you never said a word to let us know you had met him."</p>
<p>"No, and never should have said a word but for this. You will understand
that Captain Mervyn wouldn't want where he was living made a matter of
talk; and though when he told me the story he did not know I was coming
to Carnesford, and so didn't ask me not to mention it, I consider I was
bound to him to say nothing about it. But now that I know he is urgently
required here, I don't see there's occasion any longer to make a secret
of the fact that he is out in South Africa."</p>
<p>"Yes, I understand, Mr. Armstrong," Hiram Powlett agreed. "Naturally,
when he told you about himself, he did not ask it to be kept a secret,
because he did not know you would meet any one that knowed him. But when
you did meet such, you thought that it was right to say nothing about
it, and I agree with you; but of course this matter of the Squire going
queer in his mind makes all the difference, and I think, as you says,
Captain Mervyn ought to be fetched home. When he has seen the Squire is
properly taken care of, he can go away where he likes."</p>
<p>"That is so," Jacob Carey agreed. "Mervyn ought to know what is doing
here, and if you can write and tell him that he is wanted you will be
doing a good turn for the Squire as well as for him. And how was the
captain looking, Mr. Armstrong?"</p>
<p>"He was looking very well when I first knew him," Mr. Armstrong replied;
"but when I saw him last he had got hurt in a brush with the natives but
it was nothing serious, and he was getting over it."</p>
<p>"The same set as attacked your farm, Mr. Armstrong, as you was telling
us about?"</p>
<p>"I don't suppose it was the same party, because there were thousands of
them scattered all over the colony, burning and plundering. Captain
Mervyn had a narrow escape from them, and was lucky in getting out of it
as well as he did."</p>
<p>"They said he was a good fighter," Jacob Carey put in. "The papers said
as he had done some hard fighting with them Afghans, and got praised by
his general."</p>
<p>"Yes, he's a fine fellow," Mr. Armstrong said, "and, I should say, as
brave as a lion."</p>
<p>"No signs of the curse working in him?" Hiram Powlett asked, touching
his forehead. "They made a lot of it at the trial about his being
related to the Carnes, and about his being low in spirits sometimes; but
I have seen him scores of times ride through the village when he was a
young chap, and he always looked merry and good-tempered."</p>
<p>"No," Mr. Armstrong said, emphatically, "Ronald Mervyn's brain is as
healthy and clear as that of any man in England. I am quite sure there
is not the slightest touch of the family malady in him."</p>
<p>"Maybe not, maybe not," Reuben Claphurst said; "the curse is on The
Hold, and he has nothing to do with The Hold yet. If anything happens to
the Squire, and he comes to be its master, you will see it begin to
work, if not in him, in his children."</p>
<p>"God forbid!" Mr. Armstrong said, so earnestly that his hearers were
almost startled. "I don't much believe in curses, Mr. Claphurst, though,
of course, I believe in insanity being in some instances hereditary;
but, at the same time, if I were Ronald Mervyn and I inherited Carne's
Hold, I would pull the place down stone by stone, and not leave a
vestige of it standing. Why, to live in a house like that, in which so
many tragedies have taken place, is enough in itself to turn a sane man
into madness."</p>
<p>"That's just how I should feel," Hiram Powlett said. "Now a stranger who
looked at The Hold would say what a pleasant, open-looking house it was;
but when you took him inside, and told him what had happened there, it
would be enough to give him the creeps. I believe it was being up there
that was the beginning of my daughter's changing so. I never made a
worse job of a thing than I did when I got her up there as Miss Carne's
maid, and yet it was all for her good. And now, neighbours, it's my time
to be off. It's a quarter to nine and that is five minutes later than
usual."</p>
<p>Mr. Armstrong and Mary sat talking until nearly eleven about what he had
heard about Mr. Carne. She had not been gone upstairs a minute when she
ran down again from her bedroom, which was at the back of the house.</p>
<p>"Father, there is a light in the sky up at the top of the hill, just
where Carne's Hold lies. I went to the window to draw down the blinds
and it caught my eye at once."</p>
<p>Mr. Armstrong ran out into the road.</p>
<p>As Mary had said, there was a glare of light over the trees on the hill,
rising and falling. "Sure enough it's a fire at The Hold," he said, as
he ran in and caught up his hat. Then he hurried down the village,
knocking at each door and shouting, "There is a fire at The Hold!"</p>
<p>Just as he reached the other end a man on horseback dashed down the
hill, shouting "Fire!" It was one of the grooms at The Hold.</p>
<p>"Is it at the house?" Mr. Armstrong asked, as he drew up for a moment at
the inn.</p>
<p>"Yes, it's bursting out from the lower windows; it has got a big hold. I
am going to the station, to telegraph to Plymouth and Exeter for
engines."</p>
<p>"How about those in the house?" Mr. Armstrong asked.</p>
<p>"Some of them got out by the back way, and we got some of them out by
ladders. The others are seeing to that. They sent me off at once."</p>
<p>A minute or two later, men came clattering down the quiet street at a
run, and some of them overtook Mr. Armstrong as he hurried up the hill.</p>
<p>"Is that you, Mr. Armstrong?" a voice asked behind him.</p>
<p>"Yes, it's me, Carey."</p>
<p>"I thought it was," the smith said. "I caught sight of your figure
against the light up there in front. I couldn't help thinking, when you
shouted at my door that there was a fire at The Hold, what we were
talking about this evening, and your saying that if the place was yours
you would pull it down stone by stone. But perhaps we may save it yet.
We shall have a couple of score of men there in a few minutes."</p>
<p>"I fancy there is not much chance of that, Carey. I spoke to the groom
as he rode through, and he tells me that the fire when he came away was
bursting from several of the lower windows; so it has got a good hold,
and they are not likely to have much water handy."</p>
<p>"No, that's true enough. There's a big well a hundred feet deep in the
stable-yard, and a force pump, which takes two men to work. It supplied
the house as well as the stables. That's the only water there will be,
and that won't be much good," he added, as, on emerging from the wood,
they suddenly caught sight of the house.</p>
<p>From the whole of the lower windows in front the flames were bursting
out.</p>
<p>"It's travelled fast," the smith said. "The dining-room and drawing-room
and library are all on fire."</p>
<p>"Yes, that's curious, too," Mr. Armstrong remarked. "One would have
thought it would have mounted up to the next floor long before it
travelled so far along on a level. Ah, it's going up to the floor above
now."</p>
<p>As he spoke a spout of light flame suddenly appeared through the window
over the front door.</p>
<p>"That's the staircase window, I suppose."</p>
<p>Two or three minutes' running took them up on to the lawn.</p>
<p>"I will go and lend a hand at those pumps," Jacob Carey said.</p>
<p>"It's not the slightest use," Mr. Armstrong replied. "You might as well
try to blow out that fire with your breath as to put it out by throwing
a few pails of water on it. Let us see that every one is out first;
that's the main matter."</p>
<p>They joined a group of men and women, who were standing looking at the
flames: they were the two women, the groom and gardener, and four or
five men who had already come up from the village.</p>
<p>The gardener was speaking.</p>
<p>"It's no use to work at the pumps; there are only four or five pails. If
it was only at one end we might prevent its spreading, but it's got hold
all over."</p>
<p>"I can't make it out," the groom said. "One of the horses was sick, and
I was down there giving him hot fomentations with my mate. I had been
there perhaps an hour when I saw a light coming out of the drawing-room
window, and I ran up shouting; and then I saw there was a light in the
dining-room and library too. Then I ran round to the back of the house,
and the housekeeper's room there was alight, too. I run in at the
kitchen door and upstairs, and woke the gardeners and got them out. The
place was so full of smoke, it was as much as we could do to get
downstairs. Then we got a long ladder, and put it against Mrs. Wilson's
window, and got her and the girl down. Then we came round this side, and
I got up and broke a pane in Mr. Carne's window and shouted. I could not
make him hear, so I broke another pane and unfastened the window and
lifted it, and went in. I thought he must have been stifled in bed, for
the smoke was as thick as possible, and I had to crawl to the bed. Well,
master wasn't there. I felt about to see if he was on the floor, but I
could find nothing of him; the door was open, and I expect he must have
been woke up by the smoke, and went out to see what was the matter, and
perhaps got choked by it. I know I was nearly choked myself by the time
I got my head out of the window again."</p>
<p>"He may have got to the upper storey," Jacob Carey said. "We had best
keep a look-out round the house, so as to be ready to put the ladder up
at once if we see him. There is nothing else to do, is there, Mr.
Armstrong? You are accustomed to all sorts of troubles, and may know
best what we ought to do."</p>
<p>"I can't think of anything," Mr. Armstrong replied. "No, if he's not in
his own room it seems hopeless to search for him. You see the flames
have broken out from several windows of the first floor. My own idea is,
from what you say as to the fire having spread into all the rooms on the
ground floor when you discovered it, that the poor gentleman must have
set fire to the house himself in half-a-dozen places, and as likely as
not may have been suffocated almost at once."</p>
<p>"I shouldn't wonder if that was it," the smith said. "It's not natural
that the fire should have spread all over the lower part of the house in
such a short time. You know what we were saying this evening. It's just
the sort of trick for a madman to play."</p>
<p>The smith was interrupted by a sudden exclamation from those standing
round, followed by a shout of "There he is!" A dormer window on the roof
of the oldest part of the house opened, and a figure stepped out on to a
low parapet that ran round the house.</p>
<p>"All right, sir, all right," Jacob Carey shouted out at the top of his
voice; "we will have a ladder for you in no time," and he and a score of
men ran to fetch the long ladder that was leaning against the side of
the house.</p>
<p>It was soon lowered, brought round, and placed against the parapet close
to where Reginald Carne was standing.</p>
<p>"Now then, sir," Jacob Carey shouted again, "it's all right. You can
come down safe enough."</p>
<p>But Mr. Carne paid no attention to the shout; he was pacing up and down
along the parapet and was tossing his arms about in a strange manner.
Suddenly he turned, seized the ladder, and pushed it violently sideways
along the parapet. Those below vainly tried to keep it steady.</p>
<p>"Look out!" the smith shouted, "leave go and clear out, or he will have
it down on you."</p>
<p>The men holding the ladder dashed away from the foot, and the ladder
fell with a crash upon the ground, while a peal of wild laughter broke
out from above.</p>
<p>"The Squire has gone clean mad," Jacob Carey said to Mr. Armstrong, as
he joined him; "either the fire has driven him mad, or, what is more
likely, he went mad first and then lit the fire. However, we must save
him if we can."</p>
<p>"Look there, Carey, if we lifted the ladder and put it up between that
chimney and the window next to it, he can't slide it either one way or
another, as he did before; and he certainly could not throw it
backwards, if we plant the foot well away from the house."</p>
<p>"That's right enough," the smith agreed, "but if he won't come down, he
won't."</p>
<p>"We must go up and make him, Carey. If you and I and a couple of strong
men go up together, we ought to be able to master him. Of course, we
must take up rope with us, and bind him and then lower him down the
ladder."</p>
<p>"We might do that," the smith said; "but supposing the ladder catches
fire?"</p>
<p>"The fire won't touch it at that point, Carey. You see, it will go up
just between the rows of windows."</p>
<p>"So it will; anyhow, we might take up a long rope, if they have got one,
so as to lower ourselves down if the ladder does catch fire."</p>
<p>He spoke to one of the grooms. "Have you got plenty of rope?"</p>
<p>"Plenty," the man said. "I will fetch you a couple of long coils from
the stables. Here, one of you, come along with me."</p>
<p>"Now we will get the ladder up," Mr. Armstrong said.</p>
<p>With the aid of a dozen men—for the whole village was now upon the
spot—the ladder was again lifted, and dropped so that the upper end
fell between a chimney and a dormer window. Reginald Carne again
attempted to cast it down, but a number of men hung on to the lower part
of the ladder, and he was unable to lift it far enough to get it out of
the niche into which it had fallen. Then he turned round and shook his
fist at the crowd. Something flashed in the light of the flames, and
half-a-dozen voices exclaimed: "He has got a knife." At this moment the
clergyman and doctor arrived together on the scene.</p>
<p>"What is to be done, doctor?" Jacob Carey asked. "I don't mind going up,
with some others to back me, to have a tussle with him on the roof; but
he would knife us one by one as we got up to the parapet, and, though I
don't think as I am a coward, I don't care about chucking away my life,
which is of use to my wife and children, to save that of a madman whose
life ain't of no use to hisself or any one else."</p>
<p>"No, I don't see why you should, Carey," the doctor said; "the best plan
will be to keep away from the ladder for the present. Perhaps, when he
thinks you are not going to make the attempt, he will move away, and
then we can get up there before he sees us. I will go first because he
knows me, and my influence may quiet him, but we had better arm
ourselves with sticks so as to knock that knife out of his hand."</p>
<p>Reginald Carne stood guarding the ladder for a few minutes. By this time
the whole of the first floor was in a blaze, the flames rushing out with
fury from every window. Seeing that he did not move, the doctor said at
last:</p>
<p>"Well, we must risk it. Give me a stick, Carey, and we will make a try,
anyhow."</p>
<p>"You can't go now," Mr. Armstrong said, suddenly; "look, the ladder is
alight."</p>
<p>This was indeed the case. The flames had not absolutely touched it, but
the heat was so great that it had been slowly charring, and a light
flame had now suddenly appeared, and in a moment ten or twelve feet of
the ladder were on fire.</p>
<p>"It is of no use," the doctor said, dropping the stick that Jacob Carey
had just cut for him in the shrubbery; "we can do nothing for him now."</p>
<p>There was scarcely a word spoken among the little crowd of spectators on
the lawn. Every moment was adding to their number as Mr. Volkes, the
magistrate, and several other gentlemen rode up on horseback, and men
came up from all the farmhouses and cottages within a circle of a couple
of miles. All sorts of suggestions were made, but only to be rejected.</p>
<p>"It is one thing to save a man who wants to be saved," the doctor said,
"but quite another thing to save one who is determined not to be saved."
This was in answer to a proposal to fasten a stone on to a light line
and throw it up on to the roof. "The man is evidently as mad as a March
hare."</p>
<p>There could be no doubt of that. Reginald Carne, seeing that his
assailants, as he considered them, could not get at him, was making
gestures of triumph and derision at them. Now from the second floor
windows, the flames began to spurt out, the glass clattering down on to
the gravel below.</p>
<p>"Oh, father, what a pitiful sight!"</p>
<p>Mr. Armstrong turned. "What on earth brings you here, Mary? Run away,
child. This is a dreadful business, and it will be haunting you."</p>
<p>"I have seen more shocking things, father," she said, quietly. "Why did
you not bring me up with you at first? I ran upstairs to get my hat and
shawl, and when I came back you were gone. Of course, I came up at once,
just as every one else in the village has done, only I would not come
and bother you when I thought you were going to do something. But
there's nothing to be done now but wait. This must surely be the end of
the curse of Carne's Hold, father?"</p>
<p>"It ought to be, my dear. Yes, let us earnestly hope that it all
terminates here, for your sake and every one else's. Mervyn will be
master of Carne's Hold now."</p>
<p>"Not of Carne's Hold, thank God!" the girl said with a shudder. "There
will be nothing left of Carne's Hold to-morrow but a heap of ruins. The
place will be destroyed before he becomes its master. It all ends
together, The Hold and the direct line of the Carnes."</p>
<p>"Let us turn and walk away, Mary. This is too dreadful."</p>
<p>"I can't," and Mary shook her head. "I wish I could, father, but it has
a sort of horrible fascination. Look at all these upturned faces; it is
the same with them all. You can see that there is not one who would not
go if he could."</p>
<p>The doctor again went forward towards the house.</p>
<p>"Carne, my dear fellow," he shouted, "jump off at the end of the house
into the shrubs on the beds there, it's your only chance."</p>
<p>Again the mocking laugh was heard above the roar of the fire. The flames
were breaking out through the roof now in several places.</p>
<p>"It will not be long before the roof falls through," Mr. Armstrong said.
"Come away, Mary. I will not let you stay here any longer." Putting his
arms round his daughter, he led her away. She had not gone ten steps
when there was a tremendous crash. She looked back; the roof was gone
and a volcano of flame and sparks was rising from the shell of the
house. Against these the figure of the madman stood out black and clear.
Then a sudden puff of wind whirled the flames round him. He staggered,
made a half step backwards, and fell, while a cry went up from the
crowd.</p>
<p>"It's all over, dear," Mr. Armstrong said, releasing his hold of his
daughter; and then with Jacob Carey and three or four other men, he ran
forward to the house, lifted the body of Reginald Carne and carried it
beyond danger of a falling wall.</p>
<p>Dr. Arrowsmith, the clergyman, and several of the neighbours at once
hurried to the spot.</p>
<p>"He is not dead," Jacob Carey said, as they came up, "he groaned when we
lifted him; he fell on to one of the little flower beds between the
windows."</p>
<p>"No, his heart is beating," the doctor said, as he knelt beside him and
felt his pulse, "but I fear he must have sustained fatal injuries." He
took out a flask that he had, thinking that a cordial might be required,
slipped into his pocket just before starting for the scene of the fire,
and poured a few drops of spirit between Reginald Carne's lips.</p>
<p>There was a faint groan, and a minute later he opened his eyes. He
looked round in a bewildered way, but when his eyes fell on the burning
house, a look of satisfaction passed over his face.</p>
<p>"I have done it," he said. "I have broken the curse of Carne's Hold."</p>
<p>The doctor stood up for a moment and said to one of the grooms standing
close by: "Get a stable door off its hinges and bring it here; we will
carry him into the gardener's cottage."</p>
<p>As soon as Reginald Carne was taken away, Mr. Armstrong and his daughter
returned to the village. A few of the villagers followed their example;
but for most of them the fascination of watching the flames that were
leaping far above the shell of the house was too great to be resisted,
and it was not until the day dawned and the flames smouldered to a deep,
quiet glow, that the crowd began to disperse.</p>
<p>"It has been a terrible scene," Mary said, as she walked with her father
down the hill.</p>
<p>"A terrible scene, child, and it would have been just as well if you had
stayed at home and slept comfortably. If I had thought that you were
going to be so foolish, I would not have gone myself."</p>
<p>"You know very well, father, you could not have helped yourself. You
could not have sat quietly in our cottage with the flames dancing up
above the tree tops there, if you had tried ever so much. Well, somehow
I am glad that The Hold is destroyed; but of course I am sorry for Mr.
Carne's death, for I suppose he will die."</p>
<p>"I don't think you need be sorry, Mary. Far better to die even like that
than to live till old age within the walls of a madhouse."</p>
<p>"Yes; but it was not the death, it was the horror of it."</p>
<p>"There was no horror in his case, my dear. He felt nothing but a wild
joy in the mischief he had done. I do not suppose that he had a shadow
of fear of death. He exulted both in the destruction of his house and in
our inability to get at him. I really do not think he is to be pitied,
although it was a terrible sight to see him. No doubt he was carrying
out a long-cherished idea. A thing of this sort does not develop all at
once. He may for years have been brooding over this unhappy taint of
insanity in his blood, and have persuaded himself that with the
destruction of the house, what the people here foolishly call the curse
of the Carnes would be at an end."</p>
<p>"But surely you don't believe anything about the curse, father?"</p>
<p>"Not much, Mary; the curse was not upon the house, but in the insanity
that the Spanish ancestors of the Carnes introduced into the family.
Still I don't know, although you may think me weak-minded, that I can
assert conscientiously that I do not believe there is anything in the
curse itself. One has heard of such things, and certainly the history of
the Carnes would almost seem to justify the belief. Ronald and his two
sisters are, it seems, the last of those who have the Carnes' blood in
their veins, and his misfortunes and their unhappiness do not seem to
have anything whatever to do with the question of insanity. At any rate,
dear, I, like you, am glad that The Hold is destroyed. I must own I
should not have liked the thought of your ever becoming its mistress,
and indeed I have more than once thought that before I handed you over
to Ronald, whenever that event might take place, I should insist on his
making me a promise that should he survive his cousin and come into the
Carnes' estates, he would never take you to live there. Well, this will
be a new incident for you to write to him about. You ought to feel
thankful for that; for you would otherwise have found it very difficult
to fill your letters till you hear from him what course he is going to
adopt regarding this business of Ruth Powlett and Forester."</p>
<p>Mary smiled quietly to herself under cover of the darkness, for indeed
she found by no means the difficulty her father supposed in filling her
letters. "It is nearly four o'clock," she said, as she entered the house
and struck a light. "It is hardly worth while going to bed, father."</p>
<p>"All right, my dear, you can please yourself. Now it is all over I
acknowledge I feel both cold and sleepy, and you will see nothing more
of me until between ten and eleven o'clock in the morning."</p>
<p>"Oh, if you go to bed of course I shall not stop up by myself," Mary
said; "but I am convinced that I shall not close an eye."</p>
<p>"And I am equally convinced, Mary, that in a little over half an hour
you will be sound asleep;" and in the morning Mary acknowledged that his
anticipation had been verified.</p>
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