who did not owe; and inquired whether the Squire down at Mardykes Hall mightn’t be a bit “wrang in t’ garrets.”  All this, however, other people said, was intended merely to conceal the fact that he really had, through sheer loyalty, lent the money, or rather bestowed it, thinking the old family in jeopardy, and meaning a gift, was determined to hear no more about it.  I can’t say; I only know people held, some by one interpretation, some by another.

As the caterpillar sickens and changes its hue when it is about to undergo its transformation, so an odd change took place in Feltram.  He grew even more silent and morose; he seemed always in an agitation and a secret rage.  He used to walk through the woodlands on the slopes of the fells above Mardykes, muttering to himself, picking up the rotten sticks with which the ground was strewn, breaking them in his hands, and hurling them from him, and stamping on the earth as he paced up and down.

One night a thunder-storm came on, the wind blowing gently up from Golden Friars.  It was a night black as pitch, illuminated only by the intermittent glare of the lightning.  At the foot of the stairs Sir Bale met Feltram, whom he had not seen for some days.  He had his cloak and hat on.

“I am going to Cloostedd to-night,” he said, “and if all is as I expect, I sha’n’t return.  We remember all, you and I.”  And he nodded and walked down the passage.

Sir Bale knew that a crisis had happened in his own life.  He felt faint and ill, and returned to the room where he had been sitting.  Throughout that melancholy night he did not go to his bed.

In the morning he learned that Marlin, who had been out late, saw Feltram get the boat off, and sail towards the other side.  The night was so dark that he could only see him start; but the wind was light and coming up the lake, so that without a tack he could easily make the other side.  Feltram did not return.  The boat was found fast to the ring at Cloostedd landing-place.

Lady Mardykes was relieved, and for a time was happier than ever.  It was different with Sir Bale; and afterwards her sky grew dark also.

CHAPTER XXIII

A Lady in Black

Shortly after this, there arrived at the George and Dragon a stranger.  He was a man somewhat past forty, embrowned by distant travel, and, his years considered, wonderfully good-looking.  He had good eyes; his dark-brown hair had no sprinkling of gray in it; and his kindly smile showed very white and even teeth.  He made inquiries about neighbours, especially respecting Mardykes Hall; and the answers seemed to interest him profoundly.  He inquired after Philip Feltram, and shed tears when he heard that he was no longer at Mardykes Hall, and that Trebeck or other friends could give him no tidings of him.

And then he asked Richard Turnbull to show him to a quiet room; and so, taking the honest fellow by the hand, he said,