he'd look after herself. I am going right back to the hotel, Mrs.
Willet, and I'll let you know directly I hear anything."

"I shall be very anxious, Mr. Quest," she reminded him, earnestly, "very
anxious indeed. Lenora was my sister's favourite child, and my sister--"

Quest had already opened the front door for himself and passed out. He
sprang into the taxi which he had kept waiting.

"Clifford's Hotel in Payne Street," he told the man sharply.

He lit a cigar and smoked furiously all the way, throwing it on to the
pavement as he hurried into the quiet private hotel which a
fellow-passenger on the steamer had recommended as being suitable for
Lenora's one night alone in town.

"Can you tell me if Miss Lenora Macdougal is staying here?" he asked at
the office.

The woman shook her head.

"Miss Macdougal stayed here the night before last," she said, "and her
luggage is waiting for orders. She left here yesterday afternoon to go to
her aunt's, and promised to send for her things later on during the day.
There they stand, all ready for her."

Quest followed the direction of the woman's finger. Lenora's familiar
little belongings were there, standing in a corner of the hall.

"You haven't heard from her, then, since she went out yesterday
afternoon?" he asked, with sinking heart.

"No, sir!"

"What time did she go?"

"Directly after an early lunch. It must have been about two o'clock."

Quest hurried away. So after all there was some foundation for this queer
sense of depression which had been hovering about him for the last few
days!

"Scotland Yard," he told the taxi-driver.

He thrust another cigar between his teeth but forgot to light it. He was
amazed at his own sensations, conscious of fears and emotions of which he
would never have believed himself capable. He gave in his card, and after
a few moments' delay he was shown into the presence of one of the chiefs
of the Detective Department, who greeted him warmly.

"My name is Hardaway," the latter announced. "Glad to meet you, Mr. Quest.
We've heard of you over here. Take a chair."

"To tell you the truth," Quest replied, "my business is a little urgent."

"Glad to hear you've got that fellow Craig," Mr. Hardaway continued.
"Ridiculous the way he managed to slip through our fingers. I understand
you've got him all right now, though?"

"He is safe enough," Quest declared, "but to tell you the truth, I'm
worried about another little affair."

"