What it was, however, I could not, for the life of me, make out.

Perhaps it was Philip Leithcourt's intimate relation with the man who had so cleverly deceived me that incited my curiosity concerning him; perhaps it was that mysterious intuition, that curious presage of evil that sometimes comes to a man as warning of impending peril.
Whatever the reason, I had become filled with grave apprehensions.

The mystery grew deeper day by day, and was inexplicable.
During the week that followed I sought to learn all I could regarding the new people at the castle.
"They are taken up everywhere," declared my aunt when I questioned her.
"Of course, we knew very little of them, except that they had a shoot up near Fort William two years ago, and that they have a town house in Green Street.

They are evidently rather smart folks.

Don't you think so ?" "Judging from their house-party, yes," I responded.