"Where's Claudia?"
"Here," said the girl in a low voice, for she felt faint now that the strain was over, and all her old fears began to reassert themselves.
"Why, darling, what is the matter?" asked her lover, hastily.
"Nothing--nothing--that is, I'll tell you when you come home."
It was not easy for the hero to reach home. He had to submit to incessant handshaking; he had to get his aeroplane under shelter; and it had to be attended to in other ways connected with the engine and wide-spread wings. There was an old barn on the cliffs which Edwin had arranged to use for his machine long ago, so it was run into this, and the doors were closed, much to the regret of the crowd anxious to contemplate the wonder. Edwin promised to give an exhibition on the morrow, and then walked home with his parents and Claudia.
As Mr. and Mrs. Craver were both asking questions concerning his flight from Hendon all the way, Claudia had no opportunity of speaking to her lover. But on arrival at the Rectory the watchful mother gave the girl the opportunity of having a quiet moment with Edwin. Mrs. Craver drew her husband away, saying that it was best to leave the young people to themselves, and so the couple found themselves in the drawing-room. Edwin at once demanded why Claudia looked so ill, and she explained how she had bearded Lady Wyke, how Neddy had advised her to search for the owner of the knife, and how the sight of the knife in the Redleigh Police-office had informed her that the owner was none other than her own father.
"Isn't it dreadful," Edwin? sobbed flic girl, when she had finished her breathless narrative; "but father can't have murdered that poor old man."
"Of course he didn't," said Edwin, cheerfully, although he was more startled by the news than Claudia guessed. "We shall ask for an explanation. I am sure he will give one."
"You don't think he is guilty, Edwin?"
"No, I don't, dear. Appearances are rather against him, as they are against me. But I am innocent, and so is your father."