"You have come to tell me you are not going ever again to that dreadful house," she said, after the first greeting and inquiries for Miss Blake were over. "You cannot tell the horror with which the mere mention of River Hall now fills me."
"I hope it will never be mentioned to you again till I have solved the mystery attached to it," I answered.
"Then you will not do what I ask," she cried, almost despairingly.
"I cannot," was my reply. "Miss Elmsdale, you would not have a soldier turn back from the battle. I have undertaken to find out the secret attached to your old home, and, please God, I shall succeed in my endeavours."
"But you are exposing yourself to danger, to--"
"I must take my chance of that. I cannot, if I would, turn back now, and I would not if I could. But I have come to you for information. How did you know it was I who had gone to River Hall?"
The colour flamed up in her face as I put the question.
"No, Mr. Patterson, you may not," she replied. "A--a friend--a kind friend, informed me of the fact, and spoke of the perils to which you were exposing yourself--living there all alone--all alone," she repeated. "I would not pass a night in the house again if the whole parish were there to keep me company, and what must it be to stay in that terrible, terrible place alone! You are here, perhaps, because you do not believe--because you have not seen."
"I do believe," I interrupted, "because I have seen; and yet I mean to go through with the matter to the end. Have you a likeness of your father in your possession, Miss Elmsdale?" I asked.
"I have a miniature copied from his portrait, which was of course too large to carry from place to place," she answered. "Why do you wish to know?"
"If you let me see it, I will reply to your question," I said.
Round her dear throat she wore a thin gold chain. Unfastening this, she handed to me the necklet, to which was attached a locket enamelled in black. It is no exaggeration to say, as I took this piece of personal property, my hand trembled so much that I could not open the case.
True love is always bashful, and I loved the girl, whose slender neck the chain had caressed, so madly and senselessly, if you will, that I felt as if the trinket were a living thing, a part and parcel of herself.