"By what train did the lady leave?" I inquired of the hall-porter who had handed me the letter.

"The six-twenty last night, sir," was the man's answer. "I got her ticket--a first-cla.s.s one to Fort William."

"Then she went north--not south," I exclaimed, surprised.

"Of course."

Sybil had misled me in her letter by saying that she had gone to Dumfries, when really she had travelled in the opposite direction. She had purposely misled me.

"The lady left hurriedly, it would appear."

"Yes, sir. About five o'clock a gentleman called to see her, and she met him in the hall. She was very pale, I noticed, as though she was surprised at his visit, or rather upset. But they went out together.

She returned an hour later, wrote this letter, which she told me to give to you if you called, and then left for Fort William."

"And did the man call again?"

"Yes. She said he would, and she told me to tell him that she had gone to Edinburgh. I told him that, and he seemed very surprised, but went away. He was in evening dress, and it seemed as though they had intended dining together. She seemed," added the man rather sneeringly, "to be more like a lady's-maid than a lady."

"But the gentleman, describe him to me."

"Oh! he was a rather short, podgy man, fair, with a baldish head."

Was it Parham? the description suited him.

"He gave no card?"

"No. He met the young lady here in the hall. My idea was that his presence was very unwelcome, as she seemed in great fear lest he should return before she could get away."

"Has the man left Glasgow?"

"I think so. I saw him on the platform about nine, just before the Edinburgh express left. He's probably gone on there. He seemed quite a gentleman."

"They appeared to be friendly?"

"Perfectly. Only she evidently did not expect to meet him. She asked the name of a hotel at Fort William, and I told her to go to the Station."

"Then she's there!" I exclaimed quickly.

"Probably. She arrived there this morning."

I tipped the man, and after idling in Glasgow some hours, left for Fort William, determined to disobey Sybil's order to go back to Newcastle.

It was a long but picturesque journey. When I arrived I went at once to the hotel to inquire if Mrs Morton were there.

The manageress shook her head, saying,--

"There was a Mrs Morton, a young woman like a lady's-maid, who arrived here yesterday morning, and left here last evening. A lady was awaiting her--her mistress, I think."

"What was her name?"

"Mrs Rumbold," was the answer, after referring to the visitors' book.

"Rumbold!" The name of the secret lover.

"Was she old or young?"

"Elderly, with grey hair. A rather stiff, formal kind of person."

"Where have they gone?"

"I heard Mrs Rumbold say that she wanted to go to Oban. So perhaps they've gone there."

There was a boat down to Oban in three hours' time, therefore I took it, pa.s.sed down the beautiful Loch and by the island of Lismore, places too well known to the traveller in Scotland to need any description, and that same evening found myself in Oban, the Charing Cross of the Highlands. I had been there several times before, and always stayed at the Great Western. Therefore I took the hotel omnibus, and on alighting asked if a Mrs Rumbold was staying there.

The reply was a negative one, therefore I went round to several other hotels, finding at last that she and "her maid" had taken a room at the Alexandra that morning, but had suddenly changed their plans, and had left at two o'clock by train for the south, but whether for Glasgow or Edinburgh was not known.

I therefore lost track of them. Sybil had apparently successfully escaped from her male visitor at Glasgow, while at the same time Mrs Rumbold--probably the mother of the man she loved in secret--had awaited her up at Fort William.

For what reason? Why was she now masquerading as maid of the mother of her lover?

Again, if her visitor in Glasgow was really Parham, he must have very quickly obtained knowledge of her whereabouts, for only a few days before I had watched him arrange that ingenious plot against her in Dean's Yard--a plot which would have no doubt been carried into execution if Sybil had been present.

I hesitated how to act.

If they had gone south, it was useless for me to remain in Oban. Her appointment with me was in Newcastle, and it seemed certain that she would sooner or later seek me there. But at that moment my curiosity was aroused regarding this Mrs Rumbold, as to who and what she was, and further, as to the ident.i.ty of Arthur, about whom the dead man had known so much.

I left Oban and went back to Glasgow. My friend, the hall-porter at the Central Station, was talkative, but had not seen the lady again. It struck me that as the bald-headed man had met her in Glasgow, and as she had left a message for him that she had gone to Edinburgh, she would naturally avoid both places, or at any rate not halt there.

Had she gone on to Dumfries? She had left a message for me that she was there. Would she now go there in order to see if I were awaiting her instead of at Newcastle?

Dumfries, the town of Burns, was on my way down to Carlisle, therefore I resolved to make a halt there for an hour or two to inquire.

I remained the night in Glasgow, for I was f.a.gged out by so much travelling, and next day, just before twelve, I alighted at Dumfries. I had never been there before, but outside the station I saw the Railway Hotel, and entering, asked whether Mrs Rumbold was staying there.

Yes, she was. Did I wish to see her? asked the lady clerk in the bureau.

I replied in the affirmative, and sent her my name, "Mr Morton,"

written on a slip of paper.

The waiter returned with a curious look upon his face. I saw in an instant that something had occurred and was not surprised when he said,--

"Mrs Rumbold has a bad headache, sir, and would be glad if you'd call again about five or six. The chambermaid says she's lying down."

"Is there another person with her?" I inquired. "Her own maid, I mean."

"No, sir. She's alone."

"Are you quite sure of that?"