New York, Aug. 10, 18--.

"To Sir William Heath, London:

"Lady Heath left the ------- House on the 2d instant. Do not know her
address.

Eldred Edlbridge."

Mr. Eldridge, as we know, was the proprietor of the hotel where Virgie
had been boarding during her husband's absence, and we can imagine
something of his consternation when he received Sir William's cable
dispatch inquiring for his wife, and realized, all too late, the enormity
of the insult he had offered to that lady.

Lady Linton, however, had hard work to conceal her joy over the contents
of the message.

Virgie had been gone for more than a week, leaving no clew to her
whereabouts, which was evidence enough that she believed the very worst of
her husband, imagined herself a dishonored and deserted woman, and had
doubtless buried herself in some remote corner where no one would be
likely to discover her.

Lady Linton's plot had worked thus far beyond her most sanguine
expectations and she accepted her success as an omen of good for the
future.

But she hid all this under a mask of well-assumed surprise.

"What can it mean? Why should she leave the hotel where you left her?" she
inquired of her brother.

"Oh, I do not know. There is something wrong--very mysterious--about it.
Oh, why is there not a steamer ready to sail this instant? I believe I
shall go mad with this delay!" cried the baronet, in an agony of fear and
suspense.

But he had to wait until Saturday in spite of his suffering though he had
not even gone from Heathdale two hours when Lady Linton received a letter
bearing the United States postmark.

Of course it was from Mrs. Farnum, who gave a detailed account of all that
had transpired regarding Virgie's sudden departure, and assuring her that
no one in the hotel suspected her agency in the matter, or had any idea
that she knew anything regarding the girl previous to her coming there.
They did not even know that she was from England; she confided that fact
to Virgie alone, simply to further her schemes regarding her.

Lady Linton uttered a sigh of relief over this letter. Her brother would
not find his wife in New York, and his journey would be all in vain, she
told herself, and yet she would not feel at ease until she had him safely
at home again.

Sir William thought the voyage across the Atlantic would never end, and
yet it was a very quick and prosperous passage. When the steamer touched
her pier in New York he