So he must die without seeing her again! The man was as unreasonable as sick men will be; nothing would console him but Langholm's undertaking to go to Normanthorpe himself after lunch and plead in person with the stony-hearted lady or her tyrannical lord.

This plan suited Langholm well enough.

It would pave the way to the "chance" which he had resolved to give to Rachel's husband.
That resolve was not weakened by successive encounters, first with a policeman near the entrance gates, next with a trespasser whom Langholm rightly took for another policeman in plain clothes, and finally with the Woodgates on their way from the house.

The good couple welcomed him with a warmth beyond his merits.
"Oh, what a blessing you have come!" cried Morna, whose kind eyes discovered a tell-tale moisture.

"Do please go up and convince Mrs.
Steel that you can't be rearrested on a charge on which you have already been tried and acquitted!" "But of course you can't," said Langholm.