Thinking out the situation strenuously Gifford determined to seek a private interview with Edith Morriston and offer himself as her protector.  At the worst she could but snub him, and the chances were, he thought, greatly in favour of her accepting his offer of help.  For from her character he judged she was not a girl to make a stronger appeal to him than the casual invoking of his assistance which had already taken place.  He had a very cogent reason for believing that he could be of assistance, although there were certain elements in the mystery which might, in his ignorance of them, upset his calculations.

Anyhow in consideration of the trust Edith Morriston had shown in him he would seek an interview with her and chance what it might bring forth.

CHAPTER XVI

AN EXPLANATION

In pursuance of this plan Gifford proposed to his friend that they should call at Wynford Place on the next day.  Kelson had returned from the Tredworths in high spirits, the news he carried there having lifted a weight off his fiancee’s mind and indeed restored the happiness of the whole family.  There was no cloud over the engagement now, and they could all look forward to the marriage without a qualm.

If Kelson might, in ordinary circumstances, have wondered at the motive for his friend’s proposal, which was but thinly disguised, he was in too happy a state of preoccupation to trouble his head about it.

“I’m your man,” he responded promptly.  “It so happens that Muriel is lunching at Wynford to-morrow, so it will suit me well enough.  I shouldn’t be surprised if we get a note in the morning asking us to lunch there too.”

The morning, however, brought no note of invitation; a failure which rather surprised Kelson, although Gifford thought he could account for it.

Nevertheless he determined to go and do his best to get a private talk with Edith Morriston, however disinclined she might be to grant it.  The two men went up to Wynford early in the afternoon, but it was a long time before Gifford got the opportunity he sought.  Edith Morriston seemed as friendly and gracious as ever, but whether by accident or design she gave no chance for Gifford to get in a private word.  With the knowledge of what he had seen on the previous afternoon and of the change in her attitude he was too shrewd to show any anxiety for a confidential talk.  He watched her closely when he could do so unobserved, but her face gave no sign of trouble or embarrassment.  He wondered if there could after all be anything in his idea of persecution, and the more curious he became the more determined he grew to find out.  But somehow Miss Morriston contrived that they should never be alone together; when Kelson and Muriel Tredworth strolled off lover-like, Miss Morriston kept her brother with her to make a third.

The three went round to the stables and inspected the hunters, then through the shrubbery to admire a wonderful bed of snowdrops.  As they stood there looking over the undulating park, and Gifford, curbing his impatience, was talking of certain changes which had taken place since his early days there, the butler was seen hurrying towards them.