with which I cannot bring myself to agree--an opinion which I
pray God may prove as unfounded as I believe it to be. It is generally
thought that Mrs. Holbrook has fallen a victim to some common crime--that
she was robbed, and then thrown into the river."

"The river has been dragged, I suppose?"

"It has; but the people about there seem to consider that no conclusive
test."

"Had Mrs. Holbrook anything valuable about her at the time of her
disappearance?"

"Her watch and chain and a few other trinkets."

"Humph! There are scoundrels about the country who will commit the
darkest crime for the smallest inducement. I confess the business has
rather a black look, Mr. Fenton, and that I am inclined to concur with
the country people."

"An easy way of settling the question for those not vitally interested in
the lady's fate," Gilbert answered bitterly.

"The lady is my client, sir, and I am bound to feel a warm interest in
her affairs," the lawyer said, with the lofty tone of a man whose finer
feelings have been outraged.

"The lady was once my promised wife, Mr. Medler," returned Gilbert, "and
now stands to me in the place of a beloved and only sister. For me the
mystery of her fate is an all-absorbing question, an enigma to the
solution of which I mean to devote the rest of my life, if need be."

"A wasted life, Mr. Fenton; and in the meantime that river down yonder
may hide the only secret."

"O God!" cried Gilbert passionately, "how eager every one is to make an
end of this business! Even the men whom I paid and bribed to help me grew
tired of their work, and abandoned all hope after the feeblest, most
miserable attempts to earn their reward."

"What can be done in such a case, Mr. Fenton?" demanded the lawyer,
shrugging his shoulders with a deprecating air. "What can the police do
more than you or I? They have only a little more experience, that's all;
they have no recondite means of solving these social mysteries. You have
advertised, of course?"

"Yes, in many channels, with a certain amount of caution, but in such a
manner as to insure Mrs. Holbrook's identification, if she had fallen
into the hands of any one willing to communicate with me, and to insure
her own attention, were she free to act for herself."

"Humph! Then it seems to me that everything has been done that can be
done."

"Not yet. The men whom I employed in Hampshire--they were recommended to
me by the Scotland-yard authorities, certa