And taking her in his warm embrace, he rained kisses upon her full red lips in wild ecstasy, with low murmurs of love that were sweet in the young girl's ears, while she, on her part, reclined in his arms without raising protest or trying to disengage herself from his strong clasp.

"I love you, Elma!" he cried. "That you have no thought for that man Rutherford who danced with you so many times on Wednesday night, who took you into supper and laughed so gaily with you, has greatly relieved me. I know I am poor, but I will do my very utmost to make good and to be worthy of your love."

Again his lips met hers in a long, pa.s.sionate caress. For both of them the world was nonexistent at that moment, and then, for the first time, her pretty lips pressed hard against his and he felt one long, fierce and affectionate kiss.

He knew that she was his at last!

Half an hour later, as they went down the steep hill and across the beautiful wooded country towards Haslemere, Roddy Homfray trod on air.

For him the face of the world had suddenly changed. Theirs was a perfect peace and gladness in that morning of late summer. Elma, on her part, needed nothing more than the joy of the moment, and whatever darkness her lover may have seen in the future was all sunlight to her.

Roddy's glad smile was for her all-sufficient.

That day surely no shadow could fall between them and the sun!

As they walked along, Roddy suddenly exclaimed:

"What fools are clever folk!"

Surely his hours of melancholy had not returned, she thought.

"Why?" she asked.

"Because my enemies--my unknown mysterious enemies--your enemies--are fools, Elma, my darling." And then perhaps for a moment they caught sight of each other's souls.

"Perhaps they are. But we must both be guarded against them," the girl said as he walked beside her.

"Guarded! Yes, Poor Edna has fallen their victim. Next, my darling, it might be you yourself! But of the motive I can discern nothing."

"I! What have I done?" cried the girl, looking straight at him. "No, surely I can have no enemies."

"We all have enemies, darling. Ah! you do not yet realise that in our life to-day falsehoods are daily food and that a lie is small coinage in which the interchange of the world, francs, marks, dollars, or diplomacy, is carried on to the equal convenience of us all. Lying lips are no longer an abomination. They are part of our daily existence."

"You are horribly philosophic, Roddy!" she said with a laugh. "But I quite understand that it is so. The scandals in politics and in society prove it every day."

"Yes. And let us--both of us--now that we love each other, be forewarned of the mysterious evil that threatens."

"How?"

"I can't tell. Yet I have a vague premonition that though the sun shines to-day, that all is bright and glorious, and that the clear horizon of our lives is speckless, yet very soon a darkness will arise to obscure further the mystery of that night in Welling Wood."

"I sincerely hope not. Let us leave the affair to Inspector Fuller,"

said Elma. "He was down to see my father the night before last. I do not know what was said. I left them together in the library when I went to bed."

"You heard nothing?"

"Only as I came in I heard Fuller mention the name of your friend Andrew Barclay, who has gone to Ma.r.s.eilles to see the Moorish Minister."

"Yes, Barclay is certainly my friend. But how could the detective have possibly known that?"

"Detectives are strangely inquisitive people," remarked the girl, as hand in hand they went down the hill.

"That is so. And I only hope Mr Fuller will discover the truth concerning poor Edna Manners. Ah! I recollect it all so well. And yet the recollection goes giddily round and round and round in a sickening whirl of colour before my blinded eyes. It is all horrible! And it is all hideous and incredible. She died! I dashed to raise the alarm--and then I know no more! All I recollect is that I grovelled, frightened, sobbing! I saw the shimmering of sun-rays through the darkness of leaves. I was in a strange garden and it was day! And always since, whenever I have closed my eyes, I can see it still!"

"No, Roddy," she urged. "Try to put it all aside. Try not to think of it!"

"But I can't forget it!" he cried, covering his face with his hands. "I can't--I can't--it is all so terrible--horrible."

In sympathy the girl took his arm. Her touch aroused him. Of a sudden all the strength of his being came to his aid.

"Forgive me, darling! Forgive me!" he craved.

And together they crossed the low old stile into the road which led down through a quaint little village, and out on the way to Haslemere.

On that same morning at noon Richard Allen again stood in the dining-room at Willowden, when Gordon Gray, alias Rex Rutherford, entered. He was in a light motor-coat, having just returned from his tour to Scotland.

"Well, d.i.c.k!" he cried cheerily in that easy, good-humoured way of his, that cheerful mannerism by which he made so many friends. "So you've had luck--eh?"

"Yes, after a narrow escape. Got caught, and had to fight a way out,"

laughed the other.

"Not the first time. Do you recollect that night in Cannes two years ago? By Jove! I thought we were done."

"Don't let's talk of nasty things," his friend said. "Here's the precious little map--the secret of the Wad Sus mines."

"Splendid!" cried Gray, taking the small piece of folded paper to the window. "By Jove! it gives exact measurements in metres, and minute directions."

"Yes. And the old Minister has in his possession a great emerald taken from the ancient workings."

"We ought to get that. It will show _bona fides_ when we deal with the concession. It would be better to buy it than to get it by other means.

If it were stolen there would be a hue-and-cry raised. But if we could get it honestly--honestly, mark you, d.i.c.k!--we could get the official certificate saying where and when it was found."

"True!" remarked Allen, who chanced to be standing near the window and whose attention had suddenly been attracted by a movement in the bushes on the opposite side of the lawn. "But don't move, Gordon!" he cried quickly. "Keep quiet! Don't show yourself! Get back behind the curtains. There's somebody over in the bushes yonder, watching the window! Just by the yew-tree there. Watch!"

In an instant Gordon Gray was on the alert. For some moments both men stood with bated breath, watching eagerly.

Suddenly the figure moved and a ray of sunlight revealed a woman's face.

"By Gad! d.i.c.k! Yes, I've seen that woman somewhere before! What can be her game? She's evidently taking observations! Call Freda and Jimmie, quick! We must all get out of this at once! There's not a second to lose! _Quick_!"

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.

THE EARS OF THE BLIND.

The discovery of the watcher at Willowden was most disconcerting to Gray and his accomplices.

They recognised the stranger as a person who had once kept observation upon them in London two years before, and now saw to their dismay that their headquarters had been discovered.

So that night Gray and Claribut worked hard in frantic haste and dismantled the wireless installation, which they packed in boxes, while Freda eagerly collected her own belongings. Then making sure that they were not still being watched they stowed the boxes in the car, and creeping forth sped rapidly away along the Great North Road.