ill, the thing could be done, but not other- ance, and Havill hastened back to bed. wise. Dare bestirred himself yet more, whereTo this the two companions agreed, and upon Havill breathed heavily, though presently went up stairs with as gentle- keeping an intent glance on the lad manly a walk and vertical a candle as through his half-closed eyes to learn if they could exhibit under the circum- he had been aware of the investigation. stances. Dare was certainly conscious of someThe other inmates of the inn soon re-thing, for he sat up, rubbed his eyes, and tired to rest, and the storm raged on unheeded by all local humanity. CHAPTER IV. gazed around the room; then, after a few moments of reflection, he drew some article from beneath his pillow. A blue gleam shone from the object as Dare held it in the moonlight, and Havill became aware it was a small revolver. A clammy dew broke out upon the face and body of the architect when, stepping out of bed with the weapon in his hand, Dare looked under the bed, behind the AT two o'clock the rain lessened its fury. At half past two the obscured moon shone forth; and at three Havill awoke. The blind had not been pulled down over-curtains, out of the window, and into a night, and the moonlight streamed into the room, across the bed whereon Dare was sleeping. He lay on his back, his arms thrown out, and his well-curved youthful form looked like an unpedestaled Dionysus in the colorless lunar rays. Sleep had cleared Havill's mind from the drowsing effects of the last night's sitting, and he thought of Dare's mysterious manner in speaking of himself. This lad resembled the Etruscan youth Tages in one respect, that of being a boy with seemingly the wisdom of a sage; and the effect of his presence was now heightened by all those sinister and mystic attributes which are lent by nocturnal environment. He who in broad daylight might be but a young chevalier d'industrie was now an unlimited possibility in social phenomena. Havill remembered how the lad had pointed to his breast, and said that his secret was literally kept there. The architect was too much of a provincial to have quenched the common curiosity that was part of his nature by the cold metropolitan indifference to other people's lives which, in essence more unworthy even than the former, causes less practical inconvenience in its exercise. closet, as if convinced that something had occurred, but in doubt as to what it was. He then came across to where Hayill was lying and still keeping up the appearance of sleep. Watching him awhile and mistrusting the reality of this semblance, Dare brought it to the test by holding the revolver within a few inches of Havill's forehead. Crystal Havill could stand no more. lized with terror, he said, without, however, moving more than his lips, in dread of hasty action on the part of Dare, "Oh good Lord, Dare, Dare, I have done nothing." The youth smiled and lowered the pistol. "I was only finding out whether it was you or some burglar who had been playing tricks upon me. I find it was you." "Do put away that thing. It is too ghastly to produce in a respectable bedroom. Why do you carry it?” 66 'Cosmopolites always do. Now answer my questions. What were you up to?" and Dare as he spoke played with the pistol again. Havill had recovered some coolness. "You could not use it upon me," he said, sardonically, watching Dare. "It would be risking your neck for too little an object." "I did not think you were shrewd enough to see that," replied Dare, carelessly, as he returned the revolver to its "Well, whether you have outwitted me or no, you will keep the secret as long as I choose." Dare was breathing profoundly. Instigated as above mentioned, Havill got out of bed and stood beside the sleeper. After a moment's pause he gently pulled back the unfastened collar of Dare's night-place. shirt and saw a word tattooed in distinct characters on his breast. Before there was time for Havill to decipher it, Dare moved slightly, as if conscious of disturb "Why?" said Havill. "Because I keep your secret of the let ter abusing Miss P., and of the pilfered tracing you carry in your pocket. "Now I am at your service," said Dare, "and will help you to re-arrange your design by the new intellectual light we have acquired." They entered Havill's office and set to work. When contrasted with the tracing from Somerset's plan, Havill's de "It is quite true," said Havill. They went to bed again. Dare was soon asleep; but Havill did not attempt to disturb him again. The elder man slept but fitfully. He was aroused in the morning by a heavy rumbling and jing-sign, which was not far advanced, revealling along the highway overlooked by the window, the front wall of the house being shaken by the reverberation. "There is no rest for me here," he said, rising and going to the window, carefully avoiding the neighborhood of Mr. Dare. When Havill had glanced out, he returned to dress himself. "What's that noise?" said Dare, awakened by the same rumble. "It is the artillery going away." "From where?" "Markton barracks." "Hurrah!" said Dare, jumping up in bed; "I have been waiting for that these six weeks." Havill did not ask questions as to the meaning of this unexpected remark. When they were down stairs, Dare's first act was to ring the bell and ask if his Army and Navy Gazette had arrived. While the servant was gone, Havill cleared his throat and said, "I am an architect, and I take in the Architect; you are an architect, and you take in the Army and Navy Gazette." "I am not an architect any more than I am a soldier; but I have taken in the Army and Navy Gazette these many weeks." When they were at breakfast, the paper came in. Dare hastily tore it open, and glanced at the pages. "I am going to Markton after breakfast!" he said, suddenly, before looking up. "We will walk together, if you like?" They walked together as planned, and entered Markton about ten o'clock. "I have just to make a call here," said Dare, when they were opposite the barrack entrance on the outskirts of the town, where wheel-tracks and a regular chain of hoof-marks left by the departed battery were imprinted in the gravel between the open gates. "I shall not be a moment." Havill stood still while his companion entered and asked the commissary in charge, or somebody representing him, when the new batteries would arrive to take the place of those which had gone away. He was informed that it would be about noon. ed all its weaknesses to him. After seeing Somerset's scheme, the bands of Havill's imagination were loosened: he laid his own previous efforts aside, got fresh sheets of drawing-paper, and drew with vigor. "I may as well stay and help you,' said Dare; "I have nothing to do till twelve o'clock; and not much then.” So there he remained. At a quarter to twelve, children and idlers began to gather against the railings of Havill's house. At a few minutes past twelve the noise of an arriving host was heard at the entrance to the town. Thereupon Dare and Havill went to the window. The X and Y Batteries of the Z Brigade, Royal Horse Artillery, were entering Markton, each headed by the major with his bugler behind him. In, a moment they came abreast and passed, every man in his place. Six shining horses, in pairs, harnessed by rope traces white as milk; with a driver on each near horse. Two gunners on the lead-colored stoutwheeled limber, their carcasses jolted to a jelly for lack of springs. Two gunners on the lead-colored stoutwheeled gun-carriage, in the same personal condition. The nine-pounder gun, dipping its heavy head to earth, as if ashamed of its office in these enlightened times. The complement of jingling and prancing troopers, riding at the wheels and elsewhere. Six shining horses with their drivers, and traces white as milk, as before. Two more gallant jolted men, on another jolting limber, and more stout wheels and lead-colored paint. Two more jolted men on another drooping gun. More jingling troopers on horseback. Again six shining draught - horses, traces, drivers, gun, gunners, lead paint, stout wheels, and troopers as before. So each detachment lumbered slowly by, all eyes martially forward, except when wandering in quest of female beauty. "He's a fine fellow, is he not?" said Dare, denoting by a nod a mounted offi- | ished. But he gained no unfair advancer, with a sallow yet handsome face tage on this account, an additional month and black mustache, who came up on a being allowed to Havill to compensate for bay gelding with the men of his battery. his later information. "What is he ?" said Havill. Before sealing up his drawings Somerset wished to spend a short time in London, and dismissing his assistants till further notice, he locked up the rooms which had been appropriated as office and studio, and prepared for the journey. It was afternoon. Somerset walked from the castle in the direction of the wood to reach Markton by a détour. He had not proceeded far when there approached his path a man riding a bay horse with a square-cut tail. The equestrian wore a grizzled beard, and looked at Somerset with a piercing eye as he noise Havill seemed too indifferent to press his questioning; and when all the sol-lessly ambled nearer over the soft sod of diers had passed by, Dare observed to his companion that he should leave him for a short time, but would return in the afternoon or next day. After this he walked up the street in the rear of the artillery, following them to the barracks. On reaching the gates he found a crowd of people gathered outside, looking with admiration at the guns and gunners drawn up within the inclosure. When the soldiers were dismissed to their quarters the sight-seers dispersed, and Dare went through the gates to the barrack yard. The guns were standing on the green; the soldiers and horses were scattered about, and the handsome captain whom Dare had pointed out to Havill was inspecting the buildings in the company of the quartermaster. Dare made a mental note of these things, and apparently changing a previous intention, went out from the barracks and returned to the town. CHAPTER V. the park. He proved to be Mr. Cunningham Haze, chief constable of the district, who had become slightly known to Somerset during his sojourn here. "One word, Mr. Somerset," said the constable, after they had exchanged nods of recognition, reining his horse as he spoke. Somerset stopped. You have a studio at the castle, in which you are preparing drawings?" "I have. "Have you a clerk ?" "I had three till yesterday, when I paid them off." "Would they have any right to enter the studio late at night?" "There would have been nothing wrong in their doing so. Either of them might have gone back at any time for something forgotten. They lived quite near the castle." "Ah, then all is explained. I was riding past over the grass on the night of last Thursday, and I saw two persons in your studio with a light. It must have been about half past nine o'clock. One of them came forward and pulled down the blind, so that the light fell upon his face. To return for a while to George Som-But I only saw it for a short time." erset. The sun of his later existence having vanished from that young man's horizon, he confined himself closely to the studio, superintending the exertions of his draughtsmen Bowles, Knowles, and Cockton, who were now in the full swing of working out Somerset's creations from the sketches he had previously prepared. "If it was Knowles or Cockton he would have had a beard." "He had no beard." "Then it must have been Bowles. A young man?" "Quite young. His companion in the background seemed older." "They are all about the same age realIt couldn't have been Dare and Hav He had so far got the start of Havill inly. the competition that, by the help of these ill, surely! Would you recognize them three gentlemen, his design was soon fin- again?" "The young one possibly. The other not at all, for he remained in the shade." Somerset endeavored to discern in a description by the chief constable the features of Mr. Bowles; but it seemed to approximate more closely to Dare in spite of himself. "I'll make a sketch of the only one who had no business there, and show it to you," he presently said. "I should like this cleared up." Mr. Cunningham Haze said he was going to Casterbridge that afternoon, but would return in the evening before Somerset's departure. With this they parted. A possible motive for Dare's presence in the rooms had instantly presented itself to Somerset's mind, for he had seen Dare enter Havill's office more than once, as if he were at work there. He accordingly sat on the next stile, and taking out his pocket-book began a pencil sketch of Dare's head, to show to Mr. Haze in the evening; for if Dare had indeed found admission with Havill, or as his agent, the design was lost. But he could not make a drawing that was a satisfactory likeness. Then he luckily remembered that Dare, in the intense warmth of admiration he had affected for Somerset on the first day or two of their acquaintance, had begged for his photograph, and in return for it had left one of himself on the mantel-piece, taken, as he said, by his own process. Somerset resolved to show this production to Mr. Haze, as being more to the purpose than a sketch, and instead of finishing the latter proceeded on his way. He entered the old overgrown drive which wound indirectly through the wood to Markton. The road, having been laid out for idling rather than for progress, bent sharply hither and thither among the fissured trunks and layers of horny leaves which lay there all the year round, interspersed with cushions of vivid green moss that formed oases in the rustred expanse. Reaching a point where the road made one of its bends between two large beeches, a man and woman revealed themselves at a few yards' distance, walking slowly toward him. In the short and quaint lady he recognized Charlotte De Stancy, whom he remembered not to have seen for several days. She slightly blushed and said, "Oh, this is pleasant, Mr. Somerset! Let me present my brother to you, Captain De Stancy, of the Royal Horse Artillery." Her brother came forward and shook hands heartily with Somerset; and they all three rambled on together, talking of the season, the place, the fishing, the shootings, and whatever else came uppermost in their minds. Captain De Stancy was a personage who would have been called interesting by women well out of their teens. He was ripe, without having declined a digit toward fogyism. He was sufficiently old and experienced to suggest a goodly accumulation of touching amourettes in the chambers of his memory, and not too old for the possibility of increasing the store. He was apparently about eightand - thirty, less tall than his father had been, but admirably made; and his every movement exhibited a fine combination of strength and flexibility of limb. His face was somewhat thin and thoughtful, its complexion being naturally pale, though darkened by exposure to a warmer sun than ours. His features were somewhat striking; his mustache and hair raven black; and his eyes, denied the attributes of military keenness by reason of the largeness and darkness of their aspect, acquired thereby a softness of expression that was in part womanly. His mouth, as far as it could be seen, reproduced this characteristic, which might have been called weakness, or goodness, according to the mental attitude of the observer. It was large but well formed, and showed an unimpaired line of teeth within. His dress at present was a heather-colored rural suit, cut close to his figure. "You knew my cousin, Jack Ravensbury?" he said to Somerset, as they went on. "Poor Jack! he was a good fel low." "He was a very good fellow." "He would have been made a parson if he had lived; it was his great wish. I, as his senior, and a man of the world as I thought myself, used to chaff him about it when he was a boy, and tell him not to be a milksop, but to enter the army. But I think Jack was right: the parsons have the best of it, I see now." "They would hardly admit that," said Somerset, laughing. 'Nor can I." "Nor I," said the captain's sister. "See how lovely you all looked with your big guns and uniform when you entered Markton; and then see how stupid the parsons look by comparison when they flock into Markton at a Visitation." "Ah, yes," said De Stancy, a little pensively: "Doubtless it is a brilliant masquerade; kins's time. But what there is, you might kill with pleasure to her." "No, thank you," said De Stancy, grimly. "I prefer to remain a stranger to Miss Power-Miss Steam-Power, she ought to But when of the first sight you have had your fill, be called-and to all her possessions." It palls at least it does so upon me- When one is getting on for forty 'When we have made our love, and gamed our gaming, Dressed, voted, shone, and maybe something 66 'Why, Lottie, you used to jump it easily enough," said her brother. "But we won't make her do it now." He took her in his arms, and lifted her over, giving her a gratuitous ride for some additional yards, and saying, "You are not a pound heavier, Lott, than you were at ten years old.....What do you think of the country here, Mr. Somerset? Are you going to stay long?" "I think very well of it," said Somerset. "But I leave to-morrow morning, which makes it necessary that I turn back in a minute or two from walking with you." "That's a disappointment. I had hoped you were going to finish out the autumn with shooting. There's some, very fair, to be got here on reasonable terms, I've just heard." "But you need not hire any," spoke up Charlotte. "Paula would let you shoot anything, I am sure. She has not been here long enough to preserve much game, and the poachers had it all in Mr. Wil Charlotte was subdued, and did not insist further; while Somerset, before he could feel himself able to decide on the mood in which the gallant captain's joke at Paula's expense should be taken, wondered whether it were a married man or a bachelor who uttered it. He had not been able to keep the question of De Stancy's domestic state out of his head from the first moment of seeing him. Assuming De Stancy to be a husband, he felt there might be some excuse for his remark; if unmarried, Somerset liked the satire still better; in such circumstances there was a relief in the thought that Captain De Stancy's prejudices might be infinitely stronger than those of his sister or father. "Going to-morrow, did you say, Mr. Somerset ?" asked Miss De Stancy. "Then will you dine with us to-day? My father is anxious that you should do so before you go. I am sorry there will be only our own family present to meet you; but you can leave as early as you wish." Her brother seconded the invitation, and Somerset promised, though his leisure for that evening was short. He was, in truth, somewhat inclined to like De Stancy; for though the captain had said nothing of any value either on war, commerce, science, or art, he had seemed attractive to the younger man. Beyond the natural interest a soldier has for imaginative minds who know very little about them, De Stancy's occasional manifestations of tedium vitæ were too poetically shown to be repellent. Gallantry combined in him with a sort of ascetic self-repression, in a way that was curious. He was a dozen years older than Somerset; his life had been passed in grooves remote from those of Somerset's own life, and the latter decided that he would like to meet the artillery officer again. Bidding them a temporary farewell, he went away to Markton by a shorter path than that pursued by the De Stancys, and after spending the remainder of the afternoon in preparing for departure, he sallied forth just before the dinner hour toward the suburban villa. He had become yet more curious wheth |