not going to leave this place until I find her."

Ela was thinking deeply, and frowning at the untidiness of the table.

"Do you remember that locket which you found on one of the dead men in
Brakely Square?" he asked suddenly.

T. B. nodded. He put his hand in his waistcoat pocket, for he had
carried that locket ever since the night of its discovery.

"Let us have a look at the inscription again," said Ela.

They drew up chairs to the table and examined the little circular label
which they had found in the battered interior.

"Mor: Cot.
God sav the Keng."

Ela shook his head helplessly.

"I am perfectly sure there is a solution here," he said. "Do you see
those words on the top? 'Mor: Cot.'--that stands for Moor Cottage."

"By Jove, so it does," said T. B., picking up the locket; "that never
struck me before. It was the secret of Moor Cottage which this man
discovered, and with which he was trying to blackmail our friend. So far
as the patriotic postscript is concerned that is beyond my
understanding."

"There is a meaning to it," said Ela, "and it is not a cryptogram
either. You see how he has forgotten to put the 'e' in 'save'? And he
has spelt 'king' 'keng.'"

They waited before the house whilst Brown drove to the rectory, and then
on to the town. Jeremiah Bangley arrived in a state of calm
anticipation. That his sister had disappeared did not seem to strike him
as a matter for surprise, though he permitted himself to say that it was
a very remarkable occurrence.

"I have always warned Constance not to be here alone, and I should never
have forgiven myself if Brown had not been on the spot," he said.

"Can you offer any explanation?"

The rector shook his head. He was totally ignorant of the arrangements
of the house, had never, so he said, put foot in it in his life. This
was perfectly true, for he was an incurious man who did not greatly
bother himself about the affairs of other people. The local police
arrived in half an hour, headed by the chief inspector, who happened to
be in the station when the report was brought in.

"I suppose I had better take this young man to the station?" he said,
indicating Frank.

"Why?" asked T. B. calmly; "what do you gain by arresting him? As a
matter of fact there is no evidence whatever which would implicate Mr.
Doughton, and I am quite prepared to give you my own guarantee to
produce him whenever yo