"Well?" asked Anthony, when Clarice returned to the drawing-room, "is Mr. Horran any better?"  
"I think so. He is awake and his voice is stronger, but whether the improvement will last, I can't say."
 
"What does the doctor say?"
 
"Nothing. He is very perplexed¹ over this disease, and does not know what is the matter."
 
"That doesn't say much for Jerce's reputation," said Ackworth.
 
"Dr. Jerce is only a man, after all," answered Clarice, earnestly, "and Uncle Henry's disease is so very mysterious, that neither he nor Dr. Wentworth can say anything explicit²."
 
Ackworth twisted his hands behind his back and swayed to and fro on his toe-tips. "I wonder if Mr. Horran is really ill, after all."
 
Clarice, with her handkerchief to her mouth, looked at him suddenly and inquiringly. "What do you mean?"
 
"From what I have seen of Mr. Horran," said Ackworth, quietly, "he does not appear to be ill. His colour is good, he eats well, and sleeps a lot. He has not lost flesh, and his eyes are steady. Certainly, he appears to become giddy at times, but that might be biliousness³ from his sedentary life. Also he gets cross and fractious--that, again, might be liver. He lives very unhealthily, stewing⁴ in that room with a fire, and such an existence is enough to produce all the symptoms he suffers from, without any real physical cause."
 
"Well?" questioned Clarice, not knowing what this speech meant.
 
"You won't be offended?" asked Ackworth in his turn, and uneasily.
 
"With what?"
 
"I am about to say something about the Purple Fern."
 
"Yes?" she stared at him, amazed.
 
Ackworth still continued to sway to and fro, and gazed at the ground as he replied, "Mr. Horran may take exercise at night."
 
"Go on. I don't understand."
 
"His illness may be a feint."
 
"For what?"
 
"For business connected with the Purple Fern."
 
"Anthony!" Clarice recoiled⁵, as though he had struck her. "Oh, I know it sounds ridiculous," said Ackworth, hurriedly, "and perhaps it may prove to be ridiculous. All the same, the fact of that man searching Jerce on the terrace, and this mysterious illness, and the envelope containing the stamped fern, and the presence of the gold box, which Jerce now has--well, you see--I don't exactly know how to put it."
 
Clarice drew near to him again. "Do you mean to say that Uncle Henry has anything to do with these murders?"
 
"Oh, no--I don't go so far as that, my dear. Do you remember that when I became engaged to you, you asked me to see Barras, the lawyer, since your guardian⁶ was too ill to be spoken to?"
 
"Yes, I wanted you to inquire about the money."
 
"Well, I spoke⁷ to Barras last week, and learn that you certainly get two thousand per annum in a couple of years. Ferdy gets the same, and Mr. Horran is sole guardian, with a right to appoint another guardian should he die. Mr. Barras, wishing to stand well with me, I suppose, as your future husband, hinted that you might not find everything right at Horran's death."
 
"But Uncle Henry told me that everything was in order," cried Miss Baird, "and declared that he had appointed me guardian to look after Ferdy's money when he died--when Uncle Henry died, I mean."
 
"Humph! That does not entirely⁸ agree with Mr. Barras' hints, and he did no more than hint. But something is wrong, and Mr. Horran--as I understood from Barras--is the cause of its being wrong."
 
"Uncle Henry has always been a good friend."
 
"Quite so, but has he been a good guardian?"
 
"Yes. No one could have been a better one, so far as I know."
 
"Precisely," said Anthony, quickly, "so far as you know. But the fact is, Clarice, I don't like Mr. Horran, and I never liked him, and--and--" he hesitated.
 
"Go on--go on. Don't keep me in suspense⁹."
 
"Well, then, three months ago I was in town, and went to a ball at the Shah's Rooms. It was not--to be plain--a very reputable dance, or at all events it was extremely Bohemian. I went there before I was engaged to you, Clarice; now, I should not go. Well, then, at that dance, I saw Mr. Horran--"
 
"Oh, that's quite impossible. He has not been out of his room for years and years."
 
"I recognised him at a glance," said Ackworth, steadily¹⁰, "his military carriage, his spare figure, his long, iron-grey moustache. And he was with a tall man, who had a criss-cross scar on his left cheek."
 
"The man in grey who searched Dr. Jerce on the terrace?"
 
"The same--if Dr. Jerce's description is to be relied upon. I never thought of the thing until you left the room. Then, remembering our late conversation, the memory of the incident came back. Now, Clarice, if this man--as Jerce declares--is mixed up in the Purple Fern business, he certainly was with Mr. Horran, and that, don't you see, brings your guardian into the affair."
 
Clarice turned quite pale. "It is very mysterious," she said to herself, "and yet it seems perfectly¹¹ absurd. Uncle Henry is ill; he has always been ill, off and on, for the last ten years. I have lived in this house with him all the time. How could he possibly go to town even once without my knowledge?"
 
Ackworth shrugged¹² his square shoulders. "Oh, as to that, a good motor-car could take him to London and back in a few hours."
 
"Uncle Henry has not got a motor-car."
 
"He may have one we do not know of," said Ackworth, quickly, "and as that French window of his opens on to the terrace on the other side of the house, it would not be difficult for him to slip out, and back again, without your knowing."
 
"But Chalks has sat up with him often."
 
"Quite so, but he may have slipped out on the nights Chalks did not sit up with him."
 
"Are you sure it was Uncle Henry you saw at the Shah's Rooms?"
 
"I caught only a glimpse of him with the scarred man, but I feel certain he was Mr. Horran. He has rather a striking personality and appearance, you know. Also, when I moved forward to speak to him, he saw me, and vanished in the crowd of dancers. If he was there, when he was supposed to be ill at home, there may be something in Mr. Barras's hints. Also, as he was with the man in grey, and the box was found on the terrace yonder by you, and a stamped picture of the fern was delivered to him, it seems to me that Mr. Horran is secretly mixed up with the matter."
 
"It is all supposition," said Clarice, uneasily. "Quite so. However, the best thing to do will be to ask Mr. Horran for an explanation."
 
"Yes. And Dr. Jerce."
 
"No, I shouldn't do that. Jerce is an eminently¹³ respectable man, and if anything was wrong, I should think he would show scant¹⁴ mercy to the wrong-doer."
 
"Dr. Jerce may know more than you imagine," said Clarice, quickly, and she related what the vicar had said about the loan. Ackworth listened with great attention.
 
"Humph! Jerce apparently¹⁵ suspects something also. Horran has been money-lending, it seems, and is quite a Shylock. Why don't you speak to Horran about the loan to the vicar? It is your money Horran has been playing with, if it is true that he has nothing save an income for acting¹⁶ as your guardian."
 
"But Mr. Clarke told me that Dr. Jerce would not allow him to see Uncle Henry about the loan."
 
"Dr. Jerce wants to keep his patient quiet, and may be quite deceived about this disease--if it is a disease."
 
"Dr. Jerce is too clever to be deceived."
 
"But he is," insisted Ackworth, "seeing that neither he nor Wentworth can state what the disease is. I tell you what, Clarice, you announce your engagement to me, and that will give some colour for me to interfere¹⁷. Then we can get Mr. Clarke in to see Mr. Horran, and also we can ask Mr. Horran about his appearance with the man in grey at the Shah's Rooms. Finally, we can ask Mr. Barras to be present and make him explain his hints. In this way, everything will be cleared up, and matters can be placed upon a proper basis."
 
Clarice assented¹⁸. "I think your idea is very good," she said, quietly; "all the same, I fancy you are exaggerating, when you say that Uncle Henry has to do with this dreadful business of the Purple Fern."
 
Ackworth shrugged his shoulders. "He can best explain that. I am quite prepared to state on oath that I saw Mr. Horran with the Purple Fern man at the Shah's Rooms. But, of course, as you say, I may be exaggerating. Everything I say may be explained by Mr. Horran, but only he can put things right."
 
At this point of the conversation, Dr. Jerce returned to the drawing-room, looking rather perturbed¹⁹ for so serene²⁰ a man. He was drawing on his gloves as he entered. "Where is Ferdinand?" was his first question, as he cast a look round.
 
"Upstairs, lying down," said Clarice, "don't you remember he--"
 
"Yes! yes!" Jerce turned to the door again. "I know where his room is. I must see him before I go." He glanced at his watch. "I'll just have time for a short conversation before I catch this three o'clock train. Excuse me, Miss Baird, but--"
 
"Doctor, stop--stop. What is the matter with Uncle Henry?"
 
"He is annoyed by Mr. Clarke."
 
"About the loan?" asked Clarice, quickly. Jerce looked at her, astonished. "Yes. Do you know about that?"
 
"Mr. Clarke himself told me, and said that you did not want him to see Uncle Henry about it."
 
"I certainly did not," said Jerce, decidedly. "Clarke is always in difficulties, and Horran has been very good to him. His talking of incessant²¹ trouble would only irritate Horran, so I would not allow him to enter the house. But it seems that Mr. Clarke slipped in through the French window, and made trouble to-day, while Chalks was out. I have promised to see Clarke when I return here again, and to arrange that the interest of the loan stands over for another six months, which will give him time to turn round, as it were. But I wish he had not forced his way into the sick-room. He has done harm."
 
"But, doctor, about the Purple Fern?"
 
"Oh, Horran talked about that; but I have managed to set his fears at rest. He thinks he may be murdered, so I have told Chalks to stay with him all night. To-morrow, the Scotland Yard people will take up the matter. I'll go to the Yard to-night, and tell everything we have discovered; also, I'll give in the gold box as evidence."
 
"And don't you think--" began Ackworth, when Jerce cut him short.
 
"I have no time to talk," he said, impatiently. "I must see Ferdinand and then catch this train, as I have much to do. Miss Baird, your guardian is rather feverish

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