“Where?” questioned Mr. Carlyle, for Richard had only pointed to his face generally.

“Well—­I cannot say precisely where it lay, whether in the eyebrows or the eyes; I could not tell when I used to have him before me; but it was in one of them.  Ah, Mr. Carlyle, I thought, when Barbara told me Thorn was here, it was too good news to be true; depend upon it, he won’t venture to West Lynne again.  This man is no more like that other villain than you are like him.”

“Then—­as that is set at rest—­we had better be going, Richard.  You have to see your mother, and she must be waiting in anxiety.  How much money do you want?”

“Twenty-five pounds would do, but——­” Richard stopped in hesitation.

“But what?” asked Mr. Carlyle.  “Speak out, Richard.”

“Thirty would be more welcome.  Thirty would put me at ease.”

“You shall take thirty,” said Mr. Carlyle, counting out the notes to him.  “Now—­will you walk with me to the grove, or will you walk alone?  I mean to see you there in safety.”

Richard thought he would prefer to walk alone; everybody they met might be speaking to Mr. Carlyle.  The latter inquired why he chose moonlight nights for his visits.

“It is pleasanter for travelling.  And had I chosen dark nights, Barbara could not have seen my signal from the trees,” was the answer of Richard.

They went out and proceeded unmolested to the house of Justice Hare.  It was past nine, then.  “I am so much obliged to you Mr. Carlyle,” whispered Richard, as they walked up the path.

“I wish I could help you more effectually, Richard, and clear up the mystery.  Is Barbara on the watch?  Yes; there’s the door slowly opening.”

Richard stole across the hall and into the parlor to his mother.  Barbara approached and softly whispered to Mr. Carlyle, standing, just outside the portico; her voice trembled with the suspense of what the answer might be.

“Is it the same man—­the same Thorn?”

“No.  Richard says this man bears no resemblance to the real one.”

“Oh!” uttered Barbara, in her surprise and disappointment.  “Not the same!  And for the best part of poor Richard’s evening to have been taken up for nothing.”

“Not quite nothing,” said Mr. Carlyle.  “The question is now set at rest.”

“Set at rest!” repeated Barbara.  “It is left in more uncertainty than ever.”

“Set at rest so far as regards Captain Thorn.  And whilst our suspicions were concentrated upon him, we thought not of looking to other quarters.”

When they entered the sitting-room Mrs. Hare was crying over Richard, and Richard was crying over her; but she seized the hand of Mr. Carlyle.

“You have been very kind; I don’t know whatever we should do without you.  And I want to tax your kindness further.  Has Barbara mentioned it?”

“I could not talk in the hall, mamma; the servants might have overheard.”