But though she made this protest, she obeyed at once, for though she
used a considerable liberty of speech to her stepfather, it was none
the less evident that she was very much afraid of him and would not
be very likely to disobey him or oppose him directly.

"This way," she said to Dunn, and walked on along a path that led
to the hack of the house. Once she stopped and looked hack. She
smiled slightly and disdainfully as she did so, and Dunn saw that
she was looking at a clump of small bushes near where they had been
standing.

He guessed at once that she believed Deede Dawson to be behind those
bushes watching them, and when she glanced at him he understood that
she wished him to know it also.

He said nothing, though a faint movement visible in the bushes
convinced him that her suspicions, if, indeed, she had them, were
well-founded, and they walked on in silence, Ella a little ahead,
and Dunn a step or two behind.

The garden was a large one, and had at one time been well cultivated,
but now it was neglected and overgrown. It struck Dunn that if he
was to be the gardener here he would certainly not find himself short
of work, and Ella, without looking round, said to him over her
shoulder:

"Do you know anything about gardening?"

"A little, miss," he answered.