n in the case. She-person, or
he-person? She-person, unquestionably!) "Well, I went to the house,
and when I asked for her--I mean the person--she--that is to say, the
person--oh, confound it!" cried Allan, "I shall drive myself mad, and
you, too, if I try to tell my story in this roundabout way. Here it is
in two words. I went to No. 18 Kingsdown Crescent, to see a lady named
Mandeville; and, when I asked for her, the servant said Mrs. Mandeville
had gone away, without telling anybody where, and without even leaving
an address at which letters could be sent to her. There! it's out at
last. And what do you think of it now?"

"Tell me first, sir," said the wary Pedgift, "what inquiries you made
when you found this lady had vanished?"

"Inquiries!" repeated Allan. "I was utterly staggered; I didn't say
anything. What inquiries ought I to have made?"

Pedgift Junior cleared his throat, and crossed his legs in a strictly
professional manner.

"I have no wish, Mr. Armadale," he began, "to inquire into your business
with Mrs. Mandeville--"

"No," interposed Allan, bluntly; "I hope you won't inquire into that. My
business with Mrs. Mandeville must remain a secret."

"But," pursued Pedgift, laying down the law with the forefinger of one
hand on the outstretched palm of the other, "I may, perhaps, be allowed
to ask generally whether your business with Mrs. Mandeville is of a
nature to interest you in tracing her from Kingsdown Crescent to her
present residence?"

"Certainly!" said Allan. "I have a very particular reason for wishing to
see her."

"In that case, sir," returned Pedgift Junior, "there were two obvious
questions which you ought to have asked, to begin with--namely, on what
date Mrs. Mandeville left, and how she left. Having discovered this, you
should have ascertained next under what domestic circumstances she
went away--whether there was a misunderstanding with anybody; say a
difficulty about money matters. Also, whether she went away alone, or
with somebody else. Also, whether the house was her own, or whether she
only lodged in it. Also, in the latter event--"

"Stop! stop! you're making my head swim," cried Allan. "I don't
understand all these ins and outs. I'm not used to this sort of thing."

"I've been used to it myself from my childhood upward, sir," remarked
Pedgift. "And if I can be of any assistance, say the word."

"You're very kind," returned Allan. "If you could only help me to find
Mrs. M