I should, if power had been given me to read the future,
have been even more excited than I was.

CHAPTER II

SIR ROGER GRANVILLE'S SUGGESTION

When the meeting was over, I looked around for my new acquaintance, but
he was nowhere to be found. I waited at the hall door until the last
man had departed, but could not see him. Thinking he might have gone
to the hotel where we had had dinner, I went up to The Hoe, and
inquired for him; but he had not been seen. He had vanished as
suddenly as he had appeared.

I must confess that I was somewhat anxious about him, and wondered what
had become of him. He was alone; he knew no one but myself; he had
lost his memory; he was utterly ignorant of Plymouth, and I feared lest
something untoward should have happened to him. However, I reflected
that, as volunteers had been ordered to report themselves at the
barracks at nine o'clock on the following morning, I should find him
there.

I went to the house I was staying at, therefore, hoping, in spite of my
misgivings, that all would be well.

I had no opportunity of going to the barracks, however. Before I had
finished breakfast the next day a telegram arrived, ordering me to go
to Falmouth by the earliest possible train on an urgent matter. This
necessitated my leaving Plymouth almost before my breakfast was
finished. All I could do, therefore, was to scribble him a hasty line,
explaining the situation, and urging him to communicate with me at an
address I gave him in Falmouth. I also told him that on my return to
Plymouth I would look him up, and do all I could for him.

As events turned out, however, I did not get back for more than a week,
and when I did, although I made careful inquiries, I could learn
nothing. Whether he remained in Plymouth, or not, I could not tell,
and of course, among the thousands of men who were daily enlisting, it
was difficult to discover the whereabouts of an unknown volunteer.
Moreover, there were several recruiting stations in Plymouth besides
the barracks, and thus it was easy for me to miss him.

Months passed, and I heard nothing about Paul Edgecumbe, and if the
truth must be told, owing to the multifarious duties which pressed upon
me at that time, I almost forgot him. But not altogether. Little as I
knew of him, his personality had impressed itself upon me, while the
remembrance of that wild flash in his eyes as he came on to the
platform in Plymouth, and declared that h