"No—NOT the grouse!" replied Gilbert—who was far bolder than Darby imagined!
Two minutes later Helen's cousins,—who had been sitting with the drawing-room door open, and the hall door as usual, eagerly listening to every sound,—heard her running up the gravel, and then up the steps. Her cheeks were scarlet, but on the whole, she did not look as if she was flying from a ghost!
"What a fright you have given us!" cried Dido, rushing at her. "Katie and I have been almost distracted.—You have been away nearly two hours."
"Have I really!" she exclaimed apologetically. "I did not think I had been half that time."
The anxieties of her relatives had evidently not been shared by Barry, who sat with his feet upon a chair, a paper in his hand, and a look of stolid indifference on his face.
"Well, did you see Dillon?" he demanded, as she entered the drawing-room.
"Oh, yes! I saw him," she returned carelessly; "and here," exhibiting the birds, "are a brace of grouse he gave me!"
"I don't believe you!" bringing down his boots with a loud bang.
"And there's his beard!" tossing a black object into Katie's lap,—who immediately rose with a loud shriek, and shook it off as if it had been a rattlesnake.
"I'll tell you something else,"—addressing herself specially to her cousins. "What do you think? We made a grand discovery this evening. John Dillon, the notorious ghost poacher, is your esteemed friend, Darby Chute!"