The next day Dora altered her demeanour towards Joad. Hitherto she had been cold and unapproachable; now she sought his society with smiles, and quite bewildered the poor man with kindness. If Joad, who was naturally very , had not been in love, he would have mistrusted this sudden and been on his guard. As it was, in the then state of his feelings, he ascribed Dora's changed behaviour to a desire to be on better terms with one who was bound, owing to the terms of the will, to come into contact daily with her. In this belief he her advances, and vied with her in .  
On her part, Mrs. Tice viewed the comedy with displeasure. Nevertheless, she made no attempt to . Although she was to be an active party in revealing the truth to Dora, yet she was by no means that the girl should learn it from a third person. Dora was deeply in love with Allen; and the sooner she realized that there could be no union between them, the better it would be. To come to such an understanding, it was necessary that she should learn the secret. When she was of such knowledge, the was satisfied that, even if Dr. Scott did desire the match, Dora would refuse her consent thereto. Therefore Mrs. Tice preferred being spectator to actor. For some days Dora pursued her tactics, and Joad fell deep and deeper in love. He was well aware, in his own heart, that this girl, young enough to be his granddaughter, would never consent to be his wife; but for all that, he put no restraint upon his feelings. Moreover, he had a weapon in his hand which he hoped to use with effect. In spite of his belief that Dora might not accept him voluntarily, he fancied that he could force her into the match by making use of the weapon aforesaid. But it was not to be brought into active service save as a last resource.
 
Meanwhile the comedy of May and December, of Methuselah in Arcady, of "An Old Man's Darling," went on. Joad paid more attention to his dress, he drank less brandy, and talked more affably. Instead of burying himself in the library, he was to be found haunting the steps of Dora. He loved her very shadow, and was never tired of gazing at her face. She seemed to him to be the most beautiful, the most wonderful, the most gracious woman in the world; and he gloated over her charms like an old satyr. Crafty, and worldly as he was, he fell at her feet, a debased Merlin in the of an artificial Vivien.
 
Dora played her part bravely; but at times it was too much for her, and she would leave the house to the country on her bicycle. Joad was too old and shaky to accompany her, and she was thus relieved in some measure from his senile . But, however near she approached to Canterbury, she never entered the town or sought out Allen.
 
"No," she said to herself, when unusually to make the visit; "first I shall learn the truth. Once in possession of Allen's secret, of the name of Mr. Edermont's assassin, and I shall know how to act; till then I shall remain absent."
 
But, with all her , it was not so easy to gain the confidence of Joad. The least hint at Mr. Edermont's past, and he withdrew into himself. He her most ; and when she pressed him hard, assumed the character of a dull, stupid old man who knew nothing about the matter. Yet he was not unwilling to discuss the details of the murder and subsequent robbery, although he himself unable to account for either. By thus, he ignored the question of Edermont's secret enemy.
 
But one day Dora succeeded in forcing him into plain speaking; but the revelation made was one she was far from expecting. The beginning of the whole matter lay in the fact that she discovered Joad in the library the worse for drink. It was not that he was confused or , for the man's brain and speech were both clear. But he was filled with Dutch courage, which made him more audacious than usual. Dora reproved him for his .
 
"You should be ashamed of yourself, drinking so much brandy, Mr. Joad!" she said .
 
"I have not touched brandy for weeks!" said Joad, lying , after the fashion of drunkards.
 
Dora looked at him in contempt, and out a tall mirror, before which they were both . It reflected her own tall, straight form, and also the figure of the disreputable old sinner.
 
"Can you see your face and deny it?" she said in a tone of . "Your eyes are red, your clothes are , your----"
 
"Leave me to bear the burden of my own sins," said Joad ; "if I take brandy, I don't ask you to pay for it."
 
"But you are a gentleman, a scholar," persisted Dora, sorry for the wretched old creature; "you should be above such low ."
 
"We cannot be above the depths to which we have fallen, Miss Carew. My life has been one long failure, so it is scarcely to be wondered at that I fly to drink for . Few men have been so hardly treated as I have been."
 
"Yet Mr. Edermont helped you."
 
"No doubt," retorted Joad viciously; "but he would not have stretched out a finger to save me if I had not forced him to."
 
"You forced Mr. Edermont to----?"
 
"I forced him to nothing," interrupted Joad, seeing that he had gone too far. "It is only my way of speaking. Don't mind the ramblings of a foolish old failure."
 
Dora looked at him silently. His eyes were filled with tears, and, ashamed of betraying his emotion, he turned away to busy himself with dusting a book. In the few words which he had let slip Dora saw that he had possessed some power over the dead man which had won him house and home. That power she believed was connected with the lifelong of Edermont, and with the fact of his murder. The idea made her take an unexpected step. Seizing the astonished Joad by the arm, she whirled him round, so as to look straight into his eyes.
 
"Did you kill Mr. Edermont?" she asked . Joad looked at her in , and in her face.
 
"O Lord! Have you got that idea into your head?" said he contemptuously. "No, Miss Carew, I did not kill Mr. Edermont. One does not readily kill the goose with the golden eggs. By Julian's death I have lost a protector--............