At first sight it might have been a schoolgirl who stood there in the doorway. A second glance would have shown, to an acute observer, faint lines on brow and cheek, an indefinable hardness and sharpness of outline which destroyed the semblance of youth; and in its place gave an air of cynical maturity, which, reckoning by actual length of years, was as deceptive as the former illusion.

"Well?" She came further into the room and spoke interrogatively.

"Well?" Herrick turned to face her. "Mrs. Rose's disappearance is rather remarkable, don't you think?"

"Very." For the life of him Herrick could not fathom her tone. "But since Toni is a free agent and not a slave, I expect she's gone out on business of her own."

"Queer time for business--nine o'clock on a foggy night," Herrick reminded her quietly.

"Well, I daresay she got fed up with the house--and the weather--and went off to London for a spree." Eva laughed rather hardly. "A theatre would be a blessed relief after the dulness of this place."

"She would not be likely to go alone."

"Oh, I daresay she would pick up some man to go with."

"Don't speak like that, Eva, please. Mrs. Rose is not the sort of girl to 'pick up' anybody."

"Oh, isn't she?" Eva laughed again. "Your precious Toni isn't a saint, you know. Because her husband is a fool and neglects her, that doesn't say Toni is too meek and mild to have friends of her own."

Herrick turned to her angrily.

"Look here, Eva, I won't have you insinuating such things. Mrs. Rose may not be a saint--I never met one, by the way--but she is a thoroughly straight girl; and any friends she might make would be lucky fellows, I can tell you."

Eva smiled rather scornfully.

"Even you are taken in by her big eyes and her quiet ways. Well, you'll all of you get a surprise one of these days, when you find that Toni is as wide-awake as anybody else, and knows a thing or two you don't suspect her of."

"Eva, you are talking nonsense, and you know it." Herrick was seriously annoyed. "I imagined--foolishly--that you were a friend of Toni Rose; and it never entered my head you would say spiteful things of this sort about her."

He broke off.

"Unless----" He hesitated, his eyes full of a vague trouble.

"Well? Unless--what?"

"Oh, but that's absurd." He pulled himself together and spoke decisively. "I was going to say, unless you had some reason for speaking so; unless you knew something we don't know--and of course you don't."

"Of course not." This time the mockery in her tone was perceptible; and Herrick questioned her hastily.

"Eva, what do you mean? Do you know anything which would throw a light on Mrs. Rose's disappearance?"

But Eva had turned sulky and would say nothing more. After one or two vain attempts to induce her to speak, therefore, Herrick abandoned the idea; and Eva withdrew with a malicious little smile on her lips which rendered her husband still more uneasy.

He wandered restlessly about his small domain, puzzling his head as to what could have happened to Toni. He had not seen her often of late.

Indeed, he had fancied once or twice that she was avoiding him; and he was sorry, for the girl had made an instant claim upon his sympathies, and he had often meditated over her chances of turning her marriage into a success.

Somehow he had a presentiment of evil. Something seemed to tell him that Toni's flight was premeditated, that she had fled from her home secretly, with the intention of leaving her husband for ever; and although he told himself that the idea was monstrous, grotesque, he could not shake it off.

Doubtless there were a dozen explanations. Perhaps she had gone for a little stroll, and had lost her way in the fog. She might have dropped in at some house in the neighbourhood, and, talking, let the hours slip by. Ten chances to one, she was even now safe at home; and it was absurd to worry about her. And yet----

And yet there _were_ other possibilities. In the fog it would be easy indeed to miss one's road--with tragic results. One false step off the towing-path, for instance, and the river, dark and silent, would flow on its way, carrying with it a burden hardly more animated, yet a hundred times more precious, than the sticks and leaves which floated down with the current....

Suddenly Herrick sprang up, unable to bear this haunted solitude any longer. He felt as though he must go forth to make inquiries for himself, to ascertain whether Toni had returned or no, whether all possible measures had been taken for her safety.

Surely the people at Greenriver would not take his visit amiss? Seeing that his wife and Mrs. Rose were known to be friends, it was only natural that Mrs. Herrick should be anxious; and in any case he could bear this inaction no longer.

Going into the hall he selected an overcoat and cap, and then, going to the foot of the stairs, called out to his wife.

"Well?" She came to the head of the stairs, and stood looking at him over the banisters. She had a lighted candle in her hand; and somehow the wavering flame seemed to cast a sinister shadow over her face.

"I am going to Greenriver, Eva, to see if Mrs. Rose has returned."

"Oh." For a moment she hesitated, opened her mouth as though about to speak and then yawned instead. "Very well. Don't be long. My head aches and I want to get to sleep."

"I will be as quick as possible," he said. "I am sorry your head aches.

Try to get to sleep before I return."

He turned away, leaving her staring after him; and her grey eyes were full of a cruel maliciousness. Eva guessed pretty well how the land lay.

Although she had not expected Toni to give in to the young dentist's entreaties so soon, she never doubted that the girl had gone away with him; and she laughed as she remembered how quietly the whole affair had been conducted.

Except on the occasion of Dowson's loan of magazines, Eva did not believe his name had ever been mentioned between the Roses; and certainly it would never enter Owen's head that his wife would go off, leave him, and leave all the glories of Greenriver, to share the lot of the inferior and unattractive Mr. Dowson.

Eva had not the slightest feeling of compa.s.sion for the unhappy young wife driven to this step, partly by her own childish folly, but partly, also, by the evil counsel of the woman she called her friend. Eva know very well, had known all along, that there could be no happiness for Toni in such a step; and she fully believed that the girl would come to hate and fear the life in front of her. But Eva never for one moment experienced a thrill of pity for the misguided Toni. Rather the thought of the certain misery which faced her filled Eva's perverted mind with a wretched triumph; and her only strong emotion at this juncture was a pa.s.sionate hope that Owen would not learn the truth in time to save his wife from the worst consequence of her ill-considered action.

Meanwhile all was confusion at Greenriver. At first Owen had been merely a little perplexed, not uneasy, at Toni's absence from the dinner-table; but when it became apparent that she was nowhere in the house he grew alarmed.

Calling Andrews and Fletcher to him, he bade them get lanterns and inst.i.tute a thorough search in the grounds; and the three of them searched thoroughly--as thoroughly, at least, as was possible in the clammy fog.

Up and down they went, lanterns swinging, in and out of trees and shrubs; and into the various summer-houses and garden sheds; but there was no sign of Toni.

Back into the house--where once again Owen summoned the servants to a conference--and once again was forced to consider himself baffled.

Kate had seen her mistress last when she carried in the tea. Asked if Mrs. Rose had said anything about going out, she answered in the negative; and neither cook nor Maggie had sat eyes upon her since lunch.

Andrews had been out that afternoon, and knew nothing; and Mrs. Blades, when interrogated, merely sniffed and said Mrs. Rose did not often honour the housekeeper's room with her presence.

It was at this juncture that Andrews was despatched to Herrick's bungalow; and in his absence Owen rang up on the telephone all the people who seemed in the least likely to have seen his wife, but without result.

A little later he rang up other places--the station, the police station, even the little Cottage Hospital; but no one had heard or seen anything of Mrs. Rose; and Owen was forced to wait for Andrews' return.

When the man came, bearing no tidings, Owen understood that the matter was serious. Toni had gone, left her home in the dusk, departed no one knew whither. The whole thing was so unexpected, so incredible, that it was small wonder Owen was completely at sea.

Suddenly a welcome thought flashed into his head. It was possible Toni had gone to town on the spur of the moment to visit her relations in Brixton; and the next minute Owen was turning over the leaves of the telephone directory hurriedly in an endeavour to find the number of the house in Winter Gardens. Luckily the house boasted a telephone, installed for the convenience of one of the boys who was connected with an insurance agency which had its headquarters there; and in a very short s.p.a.ce of time Owen was asking the worthy Mrs. Gibbs over the wire for news of the missing Toni. But disappointment awaited him. Nothing had been heard of Toni for three weeks; and she had most certainly not visited them that day. Mrs. Gibbs, at the other end of the wire, sounded apprehensive, but Owen had no time to consider her feelings, and rang off abruptly when he found she had nothing to tell him.

Just as he was turning away from the instrument the door bell rang quietly; and with a quick movement Owen crossed the hall and threw the door widely open.