"His kinsman--almost his adopted son--Mr. Lionel Haughton," said the
Colonel. "But pardon me, madam--who are you?"

"Do you not remember me? Yet you were so often in Darrell's house that
you must have seen my face, as you have learned from your friend how
little cause I have to care for him or his. Look again; I am that
Arabella Fossett who--"

"Ah, I remember now; but--"

"But I tell you that Darrell is in danger, and this night. Take money;
to be in time you must hire a special train. Take arms, though to be
used only in self-defence. Take your servant if he is brave. This young
kinsman--let him come too. There is only one man to resist; but that
man," she said, with a wild kind of pride, "would have the strength and
courage of ten were his cause not that which may make the strong man
weak, and the bold man craven. It is not a matter for the officers of
justice, for law, for scandal; the service is to be done in secret, by
friends, by kinsmen; for the danger that threatens Darrell--stoop--stoop,
Colonel Morley--close in your ear"; and into his ear she hissed, "for the
danger that threatens Darrell in his house this night is from the man
whose name his daughter bore. That is why I come to you. To you I need
not say, 'Spare his life--Jasper Losely's life.' Jasper Losely's death
as a midnight robber would be Darrell's intolerable shame. Quick, quick,
quick!--come, come!"