for going.'

"'Only a week, sir?' he cried in a despairing voice. 'A fortnight--say
at least a fortnight.'

"'A week,' I repeated, 'and you may consider yourself to have been very
leniently dealt with.'

"'He crept away, his face sunk upon his breast, like a broken man, while
I put out the light and returned to my room.

* * * * *

"'For two days after this Brunton was most assiduous in his attention to
his duties. I made no allusion to what had passed, and waited with some
curiosity to see how he would cover his disgrace. On the third morning,
however, he did not appear, as was his custom, after breakfast to
receive my instructions for the day. As I left the dining-room I
happened to meet Rachel Howells, the maid. I have told you that she had
only recently recovered from an illness, and was looking so wretchedly
pale and wan that I remonstrated with her for being at work.

"'You should be in bed,' I said. 'Come back to your duties when you are
stronger.'

"'She looked at me with so strange an expression that I began to suspect
that her brain was affected.

"'I am strong enough, Mr. Musgrave,' said she.

"'We will see what the doctor says,' I answered. 'You must stop work
now, and when you go downstairs just say that I wish to see Brunton.'

"'The butler is gone,' said she.

"'Gone! Gone where?'

"'He is gone. No one has seen him. He is not in his room. Oh, yes, he is
gone--he is gone!' She fell back against the wall with shriek after
shriek of laughter, while I, horrified at this sudden hysterical attack,
rushed to the bell to summon help. The girl was taken to her room, still
screaming and sobbing, while I made inquiries about Brunton. There was
no doubt about it that he had disappeared. His bed had not been slept
in; he had been seen by no one since he had retired to his room the
night before; and yet it was difficult to see how he could have left the
house, as both windows and doors were found to be fastened in the
morning. His clothes, his watch, and even his money were in his
room--but the black suit which he usually wore was missing. His
slippers, too, were gone, but his boots were left behind. Where, then,
could butler Brunton have gone in the night, and what could have become
of him now?

"'Of course we searched the house from cellar to garret, but there was
no trace of him. It is as I have said a labyrinth of an old house,
especially the original wing, which is