st public-house, where it did
not take many seconds to swallow a pint of six ale. The sandwiches
which a careful wife had wrapped in a piece of newspaper, could wait
until he had made certain of his good fortune. On reaching Golfney
Place, he saw beyond a doubt that the house from which he had driven
the young lady and her luggage was assuredly Number 5, and then Mr.
Joseph Botting lost no time in making his way to Upper Grosvenor
Street, where the advertisement said he was to apply.

Before he had time to get down from his seat Jimmy, having seen him
through the dining-room window, came out with his napkin in his hand.

"'Morning, guvnor," said Joseph. "I've come about this 'ere five pound
reward."

"You have only to tell me where you left the young lady," replied
Jimmy, taking out his pocket-case and temptingly exposing a bank note.

"Well, you see, guvnor, I can't call to mind the address," said Joseph.

"It wasn't a railway station!"

"No," was the answer. "I'll tell you where it was."

"Where?" demanded Jimmy.

"Blackheath," said Dotting. "'Cabman,' she says, 'drive to the Marble
Arch.' But when we got there she tells me to go over Westminster
Bridge to Blackheath. As soon as we were at the village, as they calls
it, she gets out and looks round for a second and then she darts across
the road by the cab rank and goes into a sort of registry office. By
an' by," Joseph Botting continued, "she comes out agin and tells me to
drive on to--blest if I can recollect the name o' the place."

"Could you find your way to the house again?" suggested Jimmy, as
Botting took off his cap and rubbed his crown.

"Like a shot, guvnor."

"Jump up, then," said Jimmy. "The moment I hear that the young lady
has been at the house you shall have the fiver and a good tip beyond
your fare."

"Right you are," cried Botting, and Jimmy, re-entering the hall, spoke
a few words of unsatisfactory explanation to Sybil, while he thrust his
arms into the sleeves of his motor coat.

When once he was on the way he quickly recovered his customary
self-control. Lighting a cigar, he leaned back in the cab and was soon
on the Surrey side of Westminster Bridge. He was driven along the
dreary length of Walworth Road, to Camberwell Green, through Peckham to
Lewisham. From the Lee High Road Joseph Botting turned along a shady
thoroughfare to the left, presently reaching Blackheath with Greenwich
Park on the farther side, and immedia