et eyes on her, and
rumours of her soon began to spread. So I sent Chisholm there out to
Hathercleugh to make some inquiry--tell Mr. Lindsey what you heard," he
went on, turning to the sergeant. "Not much, I think."

"Next to nothing," replied Chisholm. "I saw Lady Carstairs. She laughed
at me. She said Sir Gilbert was not likely to come to harm--he'd been
sailing yachts, big and little, for many a year, and he'd no doubt gone
further on this occasion than he'd first intended. I pointed out that
he'd Mr. Moneylaws with him, and that he'd been due at his business early
that morning. She laughed again at that, and said she'd no doubt Sir
Gilbert and Mr. Moneylaws had settled that matter between them, and that,
as she'd no anxieties, she was sure Berwick folk needn't have any. And so
I came away."

"And we heard no more until we got your wire yesterday from Dundee, Mr.
Lindsey," said Murray; "and that was followed not so very long after by
one from the police at Largo, which I reported to you."

"Now, here's an important question," put in Mr. Lindsey, a bit
hurriedly, as if something had just struck him. "Did you communicate the
news from Largo to Hathercleugh?"

"We did, at once," answered Murray. "I telephoned immediately to Lady
Carstairs--I spoke to her over the wire myself, telling her what the
Largo police reported."

"What time would that be?" asked Mr. Lindsey, sharply.

"Half-past eleven," replied Murray.

"Then, according to what you tell me, she left Hathercleugh soon after
you telephoned to her?" said Mr. Lindsey.

"According to what the butler told us this morning," answered Murray,
"Lady Carstairs went out on her bicycle at exactly noon yesterday--and
she's never been seen or heard of since."

"She left no message at the house?" asked Mr. Lindsey.

"None! And," added the superintendent, significantly, "she didn't mention
to the butler that I'd just telephoned to her. It's a queer business,
this, I'm thinking, Mr. Lindsey. But--what's your own news?--and what's
Moneylaws got to tell about Sir Gilbert?"

Mr. Lindsey took no notice of the last question. He sat in silence for a
while, evidently thinking. And in the end he pointed to some telegram
forms that lay on the superintendent's desk.

"There's one thing must be done at once, Murray," he said; "and I'll
take the responsibility of doing it myself. We must communicate with the
Carstairs family solicitors."

"I'd have done it, as soon as the bu