in Surrey, but they had not
moved direct from there; there was a journey to America between, on some
business of Mr. Peytral's, and it was on the return voyage that they had
met Mr. Percy Bowmore. Mr. Bowmore had no friends nearer than Canada,
and he was reading for the Bar--in a very desultory way, as I gathered.
Miss Peytral's childhood had been passed in the West Indies, at the town
of San Domingo, in fact, where her father had been a merchant. Her
mother had been a helpless invalid ever since Miss Peytral could
remember. As to the engagement with Bowmore, it would seem to have had
the full approval of both parents all along. But a rather curious change
had come over her father, she thought, a few months ago. What it was
that had caused it she could not say, but he grew nervous and moody,
often absent-minded, and sometimes even short-tempered and snappish, a
thing she had never known before. Also he read the daily papers with
much care and eagerness. It was plain that Miss Peytral had no idea of
any cause which might have led to a quarrel between Bowmore and her
father, and Hewitt's most cunning questions failed to elicit the
smallest suggestion of reason for such an occurrence.

Ten days or so ago, Mr. Peytral had returned from a short walk after
dinner, very much agitated; and from that day he had made a practice of
going out immediately after dinner every evening regularly, walking off
across the paddock, and so away in the direction of Penn's Meadow. The
first visit of Percy Bowmore after this practice had begun was on
Thursday, but the presence of the visitor made no difference, as Miss
Peytral had expected it would. Her father rose abruptly after dinner and
went off as before; and this time Mrs. Peytral, who had been brought
down to dinner, displayed a singular uneasiness about him. She had
experienced the same feeling, curiously enough, on other occasions, Miss
Peytral remarked, when her husband had been unwell or in difficulties,
even at some considerable distance. This time the feeling was so strong
that she begged Bowmore to hurry after Mr. Peytral and accompany him in
his walk. This the young man had done; but he returned alone after a
while, saying simply that he had lost sight of Mr. Peytral, whom he had
supposed might have come home by some other way; and mentioning also
that he had been told that Penn's Meadow barn was on fire.

When it grew late, and Mr. Peytral failed to return, Bowmore went out
aga