The other man of the party, a white-haired old fellow in clerical garb and wearing a pair of smoked glasses, also turned angrily toward her. But at that moment Mrs. M'Kissock came stumbling forward between them, with a little broken cry, all her habitual self-restraint vanished, her harsh features working, very near tears; and, lifting a hand of the girl's in both of her own to her lips, fondled it foolishly, muttering disconnected phrases.
"I knew—I knew it from the first," she mumbled, "and yet—I did not dare believe my own eyes. But now—God bless your bonny ladyship! And God be thanked for that you have at last come back to your own! Loquhariot has waited very long for this late day, and—
"Say ye now there's a man in possession!" she spoke up, glancing defiance at the individual in the Norfolk suit and then, though with less of disfavour, at Justin Carthew. "Say ye so?—and to me, who have kept the keys of the empty Castle of Loquhariot for her ladyship here, ever since the Red Earl her father laid that trust on me from his death-bed!
"You have been ill-informed. There is no man in possession here."
Carthew was staring at her as if he were altogether at his wits' end. He almost doubted the evidence of his own ears. Had he not known as a matter of fact that Lady Josceline Justice was dead, old Janet M'Kissock's spontaneous championship of this pretender would almost have convinced him to the contrary. He could feel sure of only one further fact, which was that Sallie herself had been tricked into her impostor's part.
However, he had no time just then to come to any further conclusion. He had to decide at once what he should do to safeguard her, and did so, recalling only the debt he owed her.
"There has evidently been some mistake," said he, looking levelly into her troubled eyes. "I hope you won't hold me to blame for that. And, believe me, I'm very glad that you have come to Loquhariot."
He could say no more than that at the moment. He bowed to her, and, turning into the turret doorway, limped off downstairs. He wanted to be alone for a little. He wanted time to think. He felt absolutely stunned.
Mrs. M'Kissock, no less perturbed, her cap all awry, followed him down the winding stairway as far as the door of the rooms he had only occupied for a day or two.
"I'm going to remove to the inn," he said, in answer to her agitated excuses and explanations. "It will be better so in the meantime. Will you tell one of the men to take my baggage there for me, please?"