"I'll be away for the day," he said, "so you can make yourself comfortable, Frank. Look out that Darrel doesn't see you."
"Darrel has gone back to town," said Lancaster, "so one of the young Arrows told me. He returns in a month."
"Mildred will be glad he has gone. He was always hanging round her."
"Why didn't you put a stop to that?"
"I have not the right as yet. You see, I am not formally engaged to Mildred, and will not be, until I have discovered the assassin."
"Why not denounce me, and bring about the engagement at once?" said Frank, with some bitterness.
Jarman stared. "Because in the first place you are innocent, and in the second I should not like to build up my life's happiness on your ruin. I thought you knew me better than that, my friend."
"Forgive me. I am a beast," said Lancaster, penitently. "But the fact is, I--I--"--he gulped down the truth--"I am not myself."
"Don't wonder at it, considering the fix you are in. Cheer up. I may learn something to-day likely to give me a clue to the truth."
"From whom?"