"I'll catch the first train back this evening, Graves. Wouldn't go down
there if it were not absolutely necessary; but I have just heard that
Mrs. Delancy is to leave for New York to-night, and if I don't see her
to-day there will be a pack of troublesome complications. Tell Mrs.
Graves she can count me in on the box party to-night."

"We'll need you, Crosby. Don't miss the train."

[Illustration: Crosby Drives to the Station]

"I'll be at the station an hour before the train leaves. Confound it,
it's a mean trip down there--three hours through the rankest kind of
scenery and three hours back. She's visiting in the country, too, but I
can drive out and back in an hour."

"On your life, old man, don't fail me."

"Don't worry, Graves; all Christendom couldn't keep me in Dexter after
four o'clock this afternoon. Good-by." And Crosby climbed into the
hansom and was driven away at breakneck speed toward the station.

Crosby was the junior member of the law firm of Rolfe & Crosby, and his
trip to the country was on business connected with the settlement of a
big estate. Mrs. Delancy, widow of a son of the decedent, was one of the
legatees, and she was visiting her sister-in-law, Mrs. Robert Austin, in
central Illinois. Mr. Austin owned extensive farming interests near
Dexter, and his handsome home was less than two miles from the heart of
the town. Crosby anticipated no trouble in driving to the house and back
in time to catch the afternoon train for Chicago. It was necessary for
Mrs. Delancy to sign certain papers, and he was confident the