"That's a good girl; and I will walk over at once."
"Ride--ride! You don't know what may happen."
"Nothing bad, at all events. Yes, I will ride. Now go to your room, dear, and leave me to attend to this."
"Yes, father," she said, faintly. She had the utmost belief in his capability of arranging the situation. "But kiss me before you go. I am--I am rather frightened."
"Believe me, there is no need for that," said Mr. Cass, with an attempt at a smile. "There is your kiss, now go."
Mr. Cass reviewed the whole situation as he rode over to his sister's house. He reflected that Marshall must have told his wife about the bill, for that and the book were, so to speak, inseparable.
"In a word," thought Mr. Cass, as he dismounted at the door and gave his horse to a groom, "Marshall did not kill the man himself, but he knows who did. But I'll make Inez tell truth in some way. This is no time to consider her feelings."
Following the servant, he went into the stone-coloured drawing-room, and found his sister waiting to receive him. She was dressed in black, without a scrap of white to relieve her funereal aspect.
"I did not expect you to come so soon, Sebastian," she said, in her rich, low voice. "But I knew you would come sooner or later."
"I could hardly help coming after what Ruth told me." Her brother was surprised at her composure.