“They are all right,” he said, with a bitter smile. “It is best to be prepared, I may want to use them.”

Having done this, he rode up a lane and in a few moments stood rapping at the farm-house door with his riding-whip.

“House ho!” he shouted, in a hoarse and unnatural voice.

In a second the door was opened by an aged woman.

The horseman dismounted, and entered the house.

As he did so, the watch dogs began to howl in a most horrible and hideous manner!

The stranger heard it.

His face turned to an ashy paleness, as he thought——

“That dismal howling, I have been told, is always looked upon by superstitious country people as an omen of death!”

It was an omen of death!

CHAPTER II.

FARMER BERTRAM RECEIVES A VISIT FROM BOLTON—BOLTON’S TREACHERY.

Farmer Bertram was in bed when the stranger entered, having had a fall from his horse while hunting.

The horseman said his business was of such pressing importance that he must see the farmer at once.

Bertram recognized the name, and directed his old servant to admit the stranger to his chamber at once.

“From Mr. Redgill, I believe?” said the farmer. “Are you his son? Excuse me not rising to receive you, but I am unwell. I intended to go to London in a day or two, and settle with Mr. Redgill at once, for I have collected all my rents, and sold my crops to advantage, so that I have got a good bit of ready money by me, much more than will pay off the last instalment of the mortgage he holds against me. Let me see,” said the farmer, opening a writing-desk near his bedside, “Let me see, here are the receipts; yes, one signed for £300, a second for £200, and a third for £1,000, and now I owe him £2,000 more. What a striking likeness there is between you and Mr. Redgill, though; now I come to 

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