ave stopped to rest in some sheltered place, among
the lanes to the south of this house."

"I'll inquire at the cottages, uncle, while you are gone."

"My dear child, there must be a dozen cottages, at least, within a
circle of one mile from Windygates! Your inquiries would probably occupy
you for the whole afternoon. I won't ask what Lady Lundie would think of
your being away all that time by yourself. I will only remind you of two
things. You would be making a public matter of an investigation which
it is essential to pursue as privately as possible; and, even if you
happened to hit on the right cottage your inquiries would be completely
baffled, and you would discover nothing."

"Why not?"

"I know the Scottish peasant better than you do, Blanche. In his
intelligence and his sense of self-respect he is a very different being
from the English peasant. He would receive you civilly, because you
are a young lady; but he would let you see, at the same time, that
he considered you had taken advantage of the difference between your
position and his position to commit an intrusion. And if Miss Silvester
had appealed, in confidence, to his hospitality, and if he had granted
it, no power on earth would induce him to tell any person living that
she was under his roof--without her express permission."

"But, uncle, if it's of no use making inquiries of any body, how are we
to find her?"

"I don't say that nobody will answer our inquiries, my dear--I only say
the peasantry won't answer them, if your friend has trusted herself to
their protection. The way to find her is to look on, beyond what Miss
Silvester may be doing at the present moment, to what Miss Silvester
contemplates doing--let us say, before the day is out. We may assume,
I think (after what has happened), that, as soon as she can leave this
neighborhood, she assuredly will leave it. Do you agree, so far?"

"Yes! yes! Go on."

"Very well. She is a woman, and she is (to say the least of it) not
strong. She can only leave this neighborhood either by hiring a vehicle
or by traveling on the railway. I propose going first to the station.
At the rate at which your pony gets over the ground, there is a fair
chance, in spite of the time we have lost, of my being there as soon as
she is--assuming that she leaves by the first train, up or down, that
passes."

"There is a train in half an hour, uncle. She can never get there in
time for that."

"She may be less exha