CONTENTS

CHAPTER
I.[DOROTHY SETS OFF WITH HER GUARDIAN.]
II.[THE CURTAIN.]
III.[THE COWARD.]
IV.[THE MAN IN THE CHAIR.]
V.[DOROTHY IS LEFT ALONE WITH HER GUARDIAN FOR THE NIGHT.]
VI.[HOW DOROTHY MADE HER EXIT.]
VII.[THE CARAVAN.]
VIII.[MR FRAZER GOES SHOPPING.]
IX.[WHAT THE GIRL TOLD THE MAN.]
X.[WHAT THE CARAVAN LEFT BEHIND.]
XI.[DANGER AHEAD.]
XII.[HEADLINES.]
XIII.[THE VERNONS--PARTICULARLY FRANCES.]
XIV.[STRATHMOIRA.]
XV.[DOROTHY GILBERT OF NEWCASTER.]
XVI.[THE SPREADING OF THE NEWS.]
XVII.[A FRIEND'S ADVICE.]
XVIII.[THE MAN WHO DID IT.]
XIX.[AN INTERLUDE.]
XX.[THE HOUSEBOAT.]
XXI.[WHY HE KILLED HIM.]
XXII.[THE TELEGRAM.]
XXIII.[THE SURGEON AND THE LAWYER.]
XXIV.[TIDINGS.]

THE COWARD BEHIND
THE CURTAIN

CHAPTER I

[DOROTHY SETS OFF WITH HER GUARDIAN]

The girls were in the convent garden, when word came that Dorothy Gilbert was wanted. Dorothy was walking with Frances Vernon. Ever since she could remember her world had been that garden, with its shaded walks and its high walls; never before had a visitor come to her. The moment she was told that someone desired her presence she turned to Frances, exclaiming:

"It is he!"

With characteristic impetuosity Frances threw her arms about her, remarking as she did so:

"Just as we were speaking of him!"

As if there were anything strange in that. The strangeness would have been if he had come when they had not been speaking of him; for, of late, they had spoken of little else. Elsie Farquhar, who had brought the message, pressed it home.