or two, a
pretty, eminently likeable young woman, with signs of character and
resource in eyes and lips, and Selwood had seen enough of her to feel
sure that in any disturbing event she would keep her head. She spoke
calmly enough as the secretary met her.

"What's all this, Mr. Selwood?" she asked. "I understand my uncle is not
in the house. But there's nothing alarming in that, Kitteridge, is
there? Mr. Herapath may have gone away during the night, you know."

"Kitteridge thinks that highly improbable," replied Selwood. "He says
that Mr. Herapath had made no preparation for a sudden journey, has
taken no travelling coat or rug, or luggage of any sort."

"Did he come in from the House?" she asked. "Perhaps not?"

Kitteridge pointed to the supper-tray and then indicated the coachman.

"He came in as usual, miss," he replied. "Or rather an hour later than
usual. Mountain brought him home at one o'clock, and he saw him let
himself in with his latch-key."

Peggie Wynne turned to the coachman.

"You're sure that he entered the house?" she asked.

"As sure as I could be, miss," replied Mountain. "He was putting his key
in the door when I drove off."

"He must have come in," said Kitteridge, pointing to the tray. "He had
something after he got in."

"Well, go and tell the servants not to talk, Kitteridge," said Peggie.
"My uncle, no doubt, had reasons for going out again. Have you said
anything to Mr. Tertius?"

"Mr. Tertius isn't down yet, miss," answered the butler.

He left the room, followed by the coachman, and Peggie turned to
Selwood. "What do you think?" she asked, with a slight show of anxiety.
"You don't know of any reason for this, do you?"

"None," replied Selwood. "And as to what I think, I don't know
sufficient about Mr. Herapath's habits to be able to judge."

"He never did anything like this before," she remarked. "I know that he
sometimes gets up in the middle of the night and comes down here, but I
never knew him to go out. If he'd been setting off on a sudden journey
he'd surely have let me know. Perhaps----"

She paused suddenly, seeing Selwood lift his eyes from the papers
strewn about the desk to the door. She, too, turned in the same
direction.

A man had come quietly into the room--a slightly-built, little man,
grey-bearded, delicate-looking, whose eyes were obscured by a pair of
dark-tinted spectacles. He moved gently and with an air of habitual
shyness, and Selwood, who was natur