"It was dark and cheerless, and I was anxious to get back to you, Ralph, so I took the short cut through Stow Wood past the black mere; and just as I reached the pond I was startled by some one firing at me from behind a tree. The first shot missed, but the second struck my arm and broke the bone. It has never been properly set, and has caused me much pain.
"I must have fainted, for when I recovered my senses I was a prisoner in a strange place—the very house in which you found me. My cousin's first intention had been to kill me; but when he found that he had failed, his courage wavered, and he had me taken to that place and put that man to guard me. He promised to set me free if I would give him the will, but that I would not do. I had taken the precaution to leave that in London with a lawyer I had known in my younger days, and there it is now.
"Lord Elgert's next offer was to set me free if I would sign away half the property to him; but that I also refused to do. The man used to urge him to kill me, but he seemed possessed with the fear that you, Ralph, would find it out if he did so.
"Then one day when I felt very depressed and ill and on the point of yielding, I heard your old call, and I answered it, and I knew that you had in some way got on my track. And Lord Elgert found that out also, for yesterday he came to take me away to another hiding-place, and I refused to go. We struggled, and again your call came, and that made him desperate. The rest of the story you know, my dear boy. And now you must tell me how you managed to get on my track."
So Ralph told his story, and then Mr. Charlton explained how he had, whilst hiding in the old ruin, become convinced that Lord Elgert held some one prisoner in that strange house, and on the very day when Ralph had gone to take his chum's message, he had stolen out to watch. Mr. Charlton had seen Ralph go in, and had watched until both Lord Elgert and his man came out; then, perplexed and fearing foul play, he had stood there until the flames burst out, and that sight had dispelled his fear of the dogs and sent him to the rescue.
And then, when the police had arrived and had taken their prisoner again, Mr. St. Clive had come after him, not only with that diary, but with the man who had written it, and who confessed that he had committed the offence at the instigation of Lord Elgert, who had a spite against Mr. Charlton.
The innocent man was soon set free after that, and was able to rejoin his wife and his son openly and without any fear.
But Lord Elgert? Ah, that was the one thing that made Mr. Rexworth sad. He would have forgiven his cousin if he could, much as he had suffered at his hands, but the law would not allow that. Lord Elgert had been arrested, and the miserable Horace, together with his partner in disgrace, Dobson, had run away, and no one knew where they were.
But they were found, for Mr. Dobson set a detective on their track, and they were brought back, a pair of sorry-looking objects, dirty and ragged.