that her father had gone up with a Mr. Willoughby, and
neither had been heard from.

"Startled at this intelligence, I instituted a search myself. I could
not find out any thing, but only that there was good reason to believe
that both of the unhappy gentlemen had perished. On returning to the
house to call on Ethel, about a week after, I found that she had
received full confirmation of this dreadful intelligence, and had gone
to Montreal. It seems that Willoughby's wife was a relative of
Ethel's, and she had gone to stay with her. I longed to see her, but
of course I could not intrude upon her in her grief; and so I wrote to
her, expressing all the condolence I could. I told her that I was
going to Europe, but would return in the following year. I couldn't
say any more than that, you know. It wasn't a time for sentiment, of
course.

"Well, I received a short note in reply. She said she would look
forward to seeing me again with pleasure, and all that; and that she
could never forget the days we had spent together.

"So off I went, and in the following year I returned. But on reaching
Montreal, what was my disgust, on calling at Mrs. Willoughby's, to
find that she had given up her house, sold her furniture, and left the
city. No one knew any thing about her, and they said that she had only
come to the city a few months before her bereavement, and after that
had never made any acquaintances. Some said she had gone to the United
States; others thought she had gone to Quebec; others to England; but
no one knew any thing more."

CHAPTER VII.

A STARTLING REVELATION.

"It seems to me, Hawbury," said Dacres, after a period of thoughtful
silence--"it seems to me that when you talk of people having their
heads turned, you yourself comprehend the full meaning of that
sensation?"

"Somewhat."

"You knocked under at once, of course, to your Ethel?"

"Yes."

"And feel the same way toward her yet?"

"Yes."

"Hit hard?"

"Yes; and that's what I'm coming to. The fact is, my whole business in
life for the last year has been to find her out."

"You haven't dawdled so much, then, as people suppose?"

"No; that's all very well to throw people off a fellow's scent; but
you know me well enough, Dacres; and we didn't dawdle much in South
America, did we?"

"That's true, my boy; but as to this lady, what is it that makes it so
hard for you to find her? In the first place, is she an American?"

"Oh no."

"Wh