Haskins departed for Devonshire by the eleven-fifty morning train from Paddington, with a great sense of . The necessity of action appealed to his active brain and to his for romance. That there was more than a spice of danger in the adventure to which he was committed added to his . Notwithstanding his of Tod's suggestion that murder might be the end of these things he took the precaution of carrying a revolver. After all, Major Rebb was being driven into a highly unpleasant corner, and--from what Gerald knew of him--he was not the kind of man to submit tamely to being beaten. Nor would he readily surrender six thousand a year. He had enjoyed the luxuries of life too long to be content with the necessities. And that was only human nature.  
However, Haskins to beard the lion in his , which for the moment was Geary's village inn. Gerald himself to remain at the Prince's Head, Silbury, since the negro, by Rebb's orders, might make himself highly disagreeable should the young man live under the roof of the Devon Maid. But Haskins was not easily , and, even though the Major and his underling joined forces to him, he felt quite equal to with them, collectively or separately. Right was on his side, and Gerald had an belief that good was stronger than evil. Those who fought in the cause for which Geary and Rebb were fighting could not possibly triumph.
 
It was after four o'clock when Haskins arrived in Silbury, and he repaired at once to the Prince's Head. Mrs. Jennings was glad to see him, and gave him his old room. He learned that Rebb in his motor car had gone two days to Denleigh, and had not returned to the little town. He was visiting an elderly relative at Leegarth, said the , and Gerald smiled when he noticed how the Major kept up the fiction, to account for his presence in the neighborhood. While he was having afternoon tea he asked questions, and learned to his surprise that Bellaria was the elderly relative.
 
"She is an Italian," said Haskins, on hearing this.
 
"One of them nasty foreigners," the plump hostess, "of course she is, sir, for I've seen her myself. At times she come to Silbury for , and she went to London the other day, coming back in a broken-up condition, as you might say."
 
Haskins smiled grimly. He knew well what had broken Bellaria up. "But she can't be any relative of Major Rebb," he expostulated, "he is quite English, Mrs. Jennings."
 
"Irish, begging your pardon, sir, but it's this way, as the Major told me himself when he stopped here for the night. This Miss Bellaria's parents were Italian, and Major Rebb's were Irish. But his father died and her mother; so her father married the Major's mother, which makes them a kind of sister and brother."
 
Gerald his shoulders at this somewhat confused description, and shook his head. "It may please Rebb to call Bellaria Dondi his elderly relative," he said quietly, "but in reality there is no relationship between them."
 
Mrs. Jennings nodded in her turn. "And he ain't very kind to her," she went on , "for she do look when she comes out of that lunatic , as you might call it."
 
"Lunatic asylum!" Haskins received a shock. He had no idea that the of Mavis' had spread so far as Silbury. But Mrs. Jennings seemed to know all about it.
 
"Oh yes, sir, don't you know?" she remarked, earnestly. "Miss Bellaria is set to watch that poor girl, Mavis Durham, who is quite mad."
 
"Who says that she is mad?" asked Gerald heatedly.
 
"Everyone," replied the landlady . "Why, the Major himself told me that she was always wanting to kill people. That is why she is shut up and watched by Miss Bellaria. It would never do, sir, for a lunatic like that to come out. Why, we might all be murdered in our beds."
 
It was on the tip of Haskins' tongue to deny the insanity of Mavis, for which Mrs. Jennings so staunchly. But to do so would have led to an admission of his secret visits to the Pixy's House. Until he settled with Rebb he did not wish these to be known, therefore he himself with another question. "Have you ever seen Miss Durham?"
 
"Lord! no, sir, nor has anyone else. Miss Bellaria keeps her safely within the grounds of that tumbledown house, and a good thing too, say I."
 
"Does the house belong to Major Rebb?"
 
"No, sir--to that poor girl herself. You see, sir, the Durhams were a great family hereabouts for years. But they all died out save one, who went soldiering to India. He was shot in the lungs some months after his marriage at Simla to an English lady, and came home to die. He lingered a year and died at Brighton."
 
"And his wife?"
 
"Oh, she died in Bombay, when starting for England, long before Captain Durham was shot. That poor girl at the Pixy's House was born when her mother died, so Major Rebb, who was a brother officer of Captain Durham, took charge of her."
 
"Has Miss Durham any money?"
 
"I can't tell you that, sir. What I say is only what I have heard from time to time. I believe that she has the old house of the Durhams, and enough money to keep her. Major Rebb is a good, kind gentleman to take such trouble over the poor thing. Many another gentleman would have shut her up in a lunatic asylum."
 
Haskins smiled once more, very significantly. He quite believed that if Rebb could have shut up Mavis as a lunatic he would have done so long ago. But, in the first place, it would be difficult to get two doctors to to her insanity, and in the second, if the case became known, the use of the girl's money by Rebb might be questioned. The Major had just made sufficient of the story public to save himself from awkward questions, and Gerald foresaw that to Mavis from her false position was a more difficult task than, he had reckoned upon.
 
However, notwithstanding that things looked thus black, he held to his determination of having an explanation with Major Rebb, and as the evening was pleasant he walked to Denleigh at his leisure. There was more chance of the Major at this hour, since it was probable that he would always return to the Devon Maid for dinner. As he was starting, Mrs. Jennings came up to him at the door.
 
"If you see Major Rebb, sir," she said, in a low voice, "you might tell him that Mr. Arnold has come back."
 
"Who is he?" asked Gerald, forgetting what Mavis had said.
 
"A small clever gentleman, with a long beard, who looked after that poor girl for a time. He went away to some foreign port months ago but returned to this neighborhood during the last two or three days. I haven't seen Mr. Arnold myself," ended Mrs. Jennings, "but others have seen him, and I want the Major to know."
 
"Why?" asked Haskins, looking at her keenly.
 
"Mr. Arnold behaved very badly to Major Rebb," explained the landlady, "and went away without giving notice. Major Rebb wants to see him, and ask why he left him in the , as you might say."
 
"I'll tell him," said Haskins, nodding. "Where is this Mr. Arnold now?"
 
"I can't say, sir, save that he is in the neighborhood."
 
Haskins walked away, pondering over what had been said. He then remembered how Mavis had called this Arnold by the name of Schaibar, and said that he had gone to Australia. he had acted as a kind of companion to Mavis, and possibly as a tutor, although he had not been allowed by Rebb to teach his pupil reading or writing. It occurred to Gerald that the scholar was friendly to Mavis. In that case, he certainly would be hostile to her , as he could not fail to know from personal observation that the girl was , and was illegally detained. The young man felt very certain that Rebb wished to see this Mr. Arnold, not to ask him questions as to the reason for his sudden departure, some months back, but to him into silence regarding the truth. "I shall hunt up Arnold," thought Gerald, as he mounted the rising road to Denleigh, "he may be able to help Mavis and myself. And heaven knows that we shall need all the help and friendship that we can obtain."
 
The evening was warm, , and intensely still. Haskins did not hurry himself, but sauntered through the lovely country, enjoying its beauty in spite of his anxious state of mind. In the depths of his heart he felt that everything would come right in the end, and that he would some day be able to make Mavis his dear wife. They would then live happily ever afterwards, just like a fairy tale.
 
Still, in fairy tales, the lovers always have to undergo much and sorrow and danger before the end is reached, and this fantasy of real life--as Gerald believed--was to proceed much on the same lines. Dragons had to be overcome, magicians , castles had to be stormed: but when these tasks laid upon the fated prince were he would the princess............