"Daren't is a much more likely word than won't, I think." "Well--about that, sir," acknowledged Dick.

"Comes to that, anyhow." "And what are their grounds ?" inquired Ransford.

"You've heard them, I'll be bound!" "They say that man--Braden--had been here--here, to the house!--that morning, not long before he was found dead," answered Dick.

"Of course, I said that was all bosh!--I said that if he'd been here and seen you, I'd have heard of it, dead certain." "That's not quite so dead certain, Dick, as that I have no knowledge of his ever having been here," said Ransford.

"But who says he came here ?" "Mrs.Deramore," replied Dick promptly.