NOT within the memory of the oldest inhabitant of Ministerfield had there been such a sensation as that caused by the mysterious death of the master of Runnell Hall. That he had been treacherously murdered there could not be a doubt; the inquest and official inquiry made that point clear. He had come to know in some way of the arrangements for the duel, and was hurrying to the scene of the encounter when he met his death, which, it was proved, must have been almost instantaneous. The crime was committed in his own private grounds, and within a short distance of the spot where a group of men were assembled for the purposes of a duel, and where his daughter had suddenly appeared, greatly to their consternation and confusion. Her object in putting in an appearance was to prevent the threatene
