“You look charmingly, ma’am,” he replied.

She was put out of countenance. “Oh, no, no, no! I was not asking to be complimented on my looks, but upon my docility!”

There was an amused expression in his eyes. He answered, however, with perfect gravity, “You forget that I have three sisters. I trust I have learned from them to avoid making such remarks as must be reckoned tactless in the extreme.”

She laughed out at that. “Well! It is very hard if I am not to be praised for showing myself so biddable! I received my Lord Bedlington yesterday in the most somber black imaginable. He has been with you, I think. Has he told you of his intention to stay at Highnoons for the funeral?”

“Yes, and I am aware that you have cause for complaint. Believe me, I did not intend you to undergo such hardship when I begged you to take up your residence here.”

“No! It quite spoils the tranquillity of my sojourn here!” she countered. “When all has been so agreeable until now!”

He smiled, but only said, “I trust your rest was undisturbed last night?”

“No such thing! Your brother’s odious dog scratched so vigorously at my door that I was obliged to get up out of my bed to let him in!”

“He must have taken a marked fancy to you, ma’am,” he said politely.

“He had a marked fancy for the ham bone he had laid under my bed!” she retorted.

He laughed. “Well, that is a great deal too bad, certainly, but never mind! I am relieving you of both him and my graceless brother.”

“Oh, no!” she exclaimed quickly. “No, pray, do not, sir! He is an excellent watch dog and gives me the greatest feeling of security! Only fancy! he would not allow the baker to come within fifty yards of the house!”

“What’s that?” Nicky demanded. “You will not make me go back to the Hall, yet, Ned! I am set on searching for that precious document, whatever it may be. Besides Cousin Elinor will not like to be left without Bouncer and you know he will never stay if I go.”

Both Elinor and Miss Beccles added their earnest entreaties to his and it was finally agreed that Nicky should return to Highnoons after the inquest. He naively informed his brother that he had found an attic stuffed with old lumber and meant to have a rare time poking about among the entrancing relics he had discovered there. “You can have no notion, Ned! There is an old pistol, I dare say as old as Queen Anne, and a couple of rapiers all rusted over, and I do not know what more besides!”

“Famous!” said John sardonically. “The very place where you would expect to find a state paper!”

“Well, as to that, there’s no saying where it might be, after all,” argued Nicky. “But only think, John! Do you remember that first-rate kite Eustace had and would never let Harry fly? I found it there under a heap of rubbish and recognized it on the instant!”

“No!” John exclaimed, much struck. “Why, it must be years old! I wonder you should remember it!”

“Oh, yes! it had red stripes! I could not forget!”

“Yes, that’s true. And a long tail which Harry snipped off when Eustace was so mean-spirited as to refuse to let him fly the thing! Well, upon my word!”

It began to seem as though rummaging amongst half-forgotten playthings, instead of attending an inquest, was to be the order of the day, but the two brothers were recalled to a sense of the occasion by Carlyon, and rather regretfully followed him out to the carriage. Miss Beccles softened the rebuke by suggesting that they should fly the kite later.

“By Jove, yes! Do let us, John!” Nicky exclaimed.

“Nonsense!” said John. “Kites, indeed! I wonder if it is as good as ever?”

The carriage drove away with them and the two ladies returned to their interrupted task of dragging all the books from their shelves in the library, clapping them together, dusting the covers, and restoring them to their places. It was exhausting work and the clouds of dust that thickened the air and made the ladies sneeze seemed to indicate that Eustace Cheviot had not been of a bookish turn of mind. Such extraneous matter as floated to the floor when the books were clapped plainly had been placed between the leaves by feminine hands. Several dried flowers were discovered, an old laundry list, and a recipe for making eel broth which Miss Beccles thought would be a sustaining diet for an invalid. But of state secrets there was no trace, and although Miss Beccles derived great satisfaction from knowing that no dust, cobwebs, or spiders any longer lurked on the shelves, Elinor could not but feel that she had been wasting her time.

They were just sitting down to a nuncheon of cold meat, fruit, and tea, when the Carlyon carriage once more pulled up at the front door and the three brothers alighted. Elinor ran out at once to inquire whether all were well, and was met by Nicky who called cheerfully, “They have not put me in irons, Cousin Elinor! The Crowner was a great gun! I had not thought it had all been so simple! To tell you the truth, I did not above half like the notion of having to give my evidence, but no one could have been more civil! I was soon feeling at home to a peg. And Hitchin spoke in bang-up style! It was brought in Accidental Death, and only fancy! half of the people who had crowded in to listen to the case set up a cheer! I can tell you I was glad to be able to jump up into the carriage and get away!”

“Oh, I am so heartily thankful!” Elinor cried. “It must have been so, of course, but one could not help being a little anxious.”

She put out her hand impulsively to Carlyon as she spoke and he shook it, saying, “Thank you. It is happily over, and did indeed go without the least rub.” He added, a smile in his eyes, “Judging from the demeanor of the spectators, it would have gone hard with the jury had they brought in another verdict! I was obliged to hustle Nicky away, for what must some of the villagers do but try to shake him by the hand as though he had been a public benefactor!”

“Well, it was improper, but one cannot wonder at it,” said John. “Cheviot left no stone unturned to render himself odious in these parts.”

She led them into the dining parlor and pressed them to partake of some cold meat. Nicky exclaimed, “What, mawdling your insides with tea again! No, I thank you!”

“Yes, indeed, it is very wrong to be drinking tea at such an hour as this,” confessed Miss Beccles. “But such an agreeable luxury!”

Happily for Nicky, Barrow had seen the carriage drive up to the house, and now brought a large jug of ale into the room, and three tankards. The gentlemen were thus able to enjoy a very tolerable luncheon, during which they discussed the inquest with the ladies, informed them what arrangements had been made for the funeral, and announced their intention of spending the afternoon at Highnoons to search for any secret document there might be there.

Carlyon’s part in the search was methodical and unhurried. For some time he was ably assisted by John, both brothers sitting in the bookroom, Carlyon before an antique commode whose drawers and cupboards were crammed with the accumulations of years, and John on the sofa with a battered wooden box at his feet, which one of Eustace’s keys had been found to fit. This was full of papers, old account books, ledgers, and bundles of letters, and these were all in such disorder that he was very glad to accept Elinor’s offer of assistance in sorting them out. But after half an hour’s steady work an interruption occurred. Nicky looked into the room, saying, “Look, is not this the very one, John?”

“Ay, that is it,” John replied, glancing up at the gaudy if somewhat faded kite he was being shown.

“Well, do you mean to come and try if it will fly?”

“Flying kites at my age! I should rather think not! Cannot you see that I am busy?”

“Oh, fusty work!” Nicky said, disappearing again.

John returned to his task, but happening to raise his head a few minutes later, caught sight of Nicky in the garden. His attention remained riveted, and he presently ejaculated, “One would fancy him a schoolboy! Incurable folly!”

Neither Carlyon nor Elinor returned any answer, and after a slight pause during which he continued to look out of the window he said testily, “That’s no way to go about it! Why does he not take it into the meadow? There cannot be wind enough in this hollow!”

“Here is a book of household accounts twenty years old,” said Elinor. “Shall I lay it aside to be burned?”

“Yes, certainly,” he said absently. “There! you have got it entangled in the hedge! Ned, that boy will be hurting his shoulder if he persists! I’ll go out to him!”

He left the room abruptly as he spoke, and five minutes later Elinor had an excellent view of him upon the lawn, arguing with Nicky. Both brothers then departed in the direction of the meadow, Bouncer at their heels, and were no more seen until the light began to fail and Carlyon had called for his carriage. They came in then, flushed and untidy, but full of satisfaction in having found the kite to be in famous shape, and very hot against their deceased cousin for the selfishness which had made him refuse to allow them to fly it years ago, when, as John rather unconvincingly said, they might really have enjoyed such a childish pastime. He looked a little conscious when he realized how late it was, and said that he begged pardon for having left his task. “But I thought I had best make sure Nicky did himself no injury,” he explained. “Besides, I don’t believe there is anything in this rubbish heap of a house but what had better have been burned years ago!”

“I begin to agree with you,” said Carlyon, ruefully regarding the huge pile of wastepaper on the floor. “Nevertheless, the work had to be done, and whether I find anything of value or not I must continue until it is finished. Mrs. Cheviot, I beg you will not exhaust yourself in this search! I shall return tomorrow, and there is not the least need for you to be turning out any more drawers and cupboards today.”