"My dears," said Mrs. Vaughan; she had just left Island Cottage and she was seated outside the pioneer hut beside the camp-fire with the four beside her. "Yes, there has been a thorough disinfection, and Dr. Greig says it is quite safe for me to see you out of doors. Tell me about it. And Jan, how pale you look."
 
"It was—last night, seeing the old man, he looked so ill, so dreadful when he came through the door." Jan's voice trembled.
 
"It was only just in time, you see, Mother," Robin spoke; "in five more minutes he wouldn't have had the strength even to call or rap again. He was in dreadful pain, it was his heart."
 
"Yes, dear, Dr. Greig has told me; he is there still, and I have just seen him." Mrs. Vaughan spoke slowly.
 
"How he came there we don't know a bit,—how he knew of the secret door; for it must be one, and it must lead somewhere. He—well he asked for Dad, said that he was dying and that he had a confession to make, and," Peter stopped for a minute, "then Robin went off for Dr. Greig."
 
"That was right." Mrs. Vaughan looked up. "You ask me who he is, and about his confession. It is a long story, some of which you have heard before from Brownie, but you must know it. Does it make things any plainer to you if I tell you that the old man who is dying at the Cottage is called Mitchell?"
 
"Mitchell!" The boys looked at each other. "We've heard the name—didn't Brownie—?"
 
"It's the name of the gamekeeper before Hooker," exclaimed Jan suddenly.
 
"Yes. Mitchell, long ago, was your grandfather's head keeper; he was unsatisfactory, and so was dismissed. Hooker was given his situation and his cottage by Uncle Derrick's request, and for that reason Mitchell bore a grudge against the two—not only on account of his dismissal, but the Cottage had become necessary to him owing to some underhand work that he had been carrying on there for some time. For a year at least before his dismissal he had been making false money, which had been circulated through the county; he had discovered a secret smugglers' passage leading from the east wing, under the Island, to the other side of the river, which opened also into one of the rooms in his cottage, and in this secret place his coining was carried on.
 
"Even after Hooker came into possession of the Cottage, Mitchell still carried on this work; he felt secure in his underground shelter; and it was not until the false money had been detected and inquiries began to be put on foot that he feared arrest. Then he paid back the grudge that he had nursed for............