Calvert, hear what these men say; they are crying
out unfair against us. They declare—-"

" Are you an ass, Bob?" said the other,
angrily. " Who minds the stupid speech of fellows
whose friend is knocked over?"

"Yes, but I'll hear this out," cried Barnard.

"You'll do so without me, then, and a cursed
fool you are for your pains. Drive across to
the Bavarian frontier, my man," said he, giving
the postilion a Napoleon, "and you shall have a
couple more if you get there within two hours."
With all the speed that whip and spur could
summon, the beasts sped along the level road,
and Calvert, though occasionally looking through
the small pane in the back of the carriage to
assure himself he was not pursued, smoked on
unceasingly. He might have been a shade graver
than his wont, and preoccupied too, for he took
no notice of the objects on the road, nor replied
to the speeches of the postilion, who, in his
self-praise, seemed to call for some expression of
approval.

"You are a precious fool, Master Barnard,
and you have paid for your folly, or you had been
here before this"

Such were his uttered thoughts, but it cost
him little regret as he spoke them.

The steam-boat that left Constance for Lindau
was just getting under weigh as he reached
the lake, and he immediately embarked in her,
and, on the same evening, gained Austrian
territory at Bregenz, to pass the night. For a day
or two, the quietness of this lone and
little-visited spot suited him, and it was near enough
to the Swiss frontier, at the Rhine, to get news
from Switzerland. On the third day, a paragraph
in the Basle Zeitung told him everything.
It was, as such things usually are, totally
misrepresented, but there was enough revealed for
him to guess what had occurred. It was headed
"Terrible Event," and ran thus :

"At a meeting which took place with pistols,
this morning, between two English lords, at the
White Meadows, one fell, so fatally wounded
that his death ensued in a few minutes. An
instantaneous cry of foul play amongst his friends
led to a fierce and angry altercation, which
ended in a second encounter between the first
principal and the second of the deceased. In
this the former was shot through the throat, the
bullet injuring several large vessels, and lodging,
it is supposed, in the spine. He has been con-
veyed to the Hotel Royal, but no hopes of his
recovery are entertained."

"I suspected what would come of your dis-
cussion, Bob. Had you only been minded to
slip away with me, you'd have been in the enjoy-
ment of a whole skin by this time. I wonder
which of them shot him. I'd take the odds it
was the Frenchman; he handled the pistols like
a fellow who envied us our pleasant chances. I
suppose I ought to write to Barnard, or to his
people; but it's not an agreeable task, and I'll
think over it."

He thought over it, and wrote as follows:

"Dear Bob,— I suspect, from a very
confused paragraph in a stupid newspaper, that you
have fought somebody and got wounded. Write
and say if this be so, what it was all about, who
did it, and what more can be done for you,
                                       " By yours truly,
       " Address, Como."                              "H.C.

To this he received no answer when he called
at the post-office, and turned his steps next to
Orta. He did not really know why, but it was,
perhaps, with some of that strange instinct that
makes the criminal haunt the homes of those he
has once injured, and means to injure more.
There was, however, one motive which he recognised
himself; he wished to know something of
those at the villa ; when they had heard from
Loyd, and what ? whether, too, they had heard
of his own doings, and in what way? A fatal
duel, followed by another that was like to prove
fatal, was an event sure to provoke newspaper
notice. The names could not escape publicity
and he was eager to see in what terms they
mentioned his own. He trusted much to the
difficulty of getting at any true version of the
affair, and he doubted greatly if any one but
Graham and himself could have told why they
were to meet at all. Graham's second, Rochefort,
evidently knew very little of the affair.
At all events, Graham was no longer there to
give his version, while, for the incidents of the
duel, who was to speak ? All, save Barnard, who
was dying, if not dead, must have taken flight.
The Swiss authorities would soon have arrested
them if within reach. He might therefore reas-
sure himself that no statement that he could not
at least impugn could get currency just yet. "I
will row over to the old Grainger" - so he called
her—- "and see what she has heard of it all."

It was nightfall as he reached the shore, and
walked slowly and anxiously to the house. He
had learned at Orta that they were to leave that
part of the world in another fortnight, but
whither for, none knew. As he drew nigh, he
determined to have a peep at the interior before
he presented himself. He accordingly opened
the little wicket noiselessly, and passed round
through the flower-garden till he reached the
windows of the drawing-room.

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