er quarter. No person
living would be capable of so certainly extracting the correspondence
from him, on such ruinously cheap terms as his old master. "I'll no' put
myself under Sir Paitrick's thumb," thought Bishopriggs, "till I've gane
my ain rounds among the lave o' them first."

Rendered into intelligible English, this resolution pledged him to hold
no communication with Sir Patrick--until he had first tested his success
in negotiating with other persons, who might be equally interested in
getting possession of the correspondence, and more liberal in giving
hush-money to the thief who had stolen it.

Who were the "other persons" at his disposal, under these circumstances?

He had only to recall the conversation which he had overheard between
Lady Lundie and Mrs. Delamayn to arrive at the discovery of one person,
to begin with, who was directly interested in getting possession of his
own letter. Mr. Geoffrey Delamayn was in a fair way of being married to
a lady named Mrs. Glenarm. And here was this same Mr. Geoffrey Delamayn
in matrimonial correspondence, little more than a fortnight since, with
another lady--who signed herself "Anne Silvester."

Whatever his position between the two women might be, his interest in
possessing himself of the correspondence was plain beyond all doubt. It
was equally clear that the first thing to be done by Bishopriggs was
to find the means of obtaining a personal interview with him. If the
interview led to nothing else, it would decide one important question
which still remained to be solved. The lady whom Bishopriggs had waited
on at Craig Fernie might well be "Anne Silvester." Was Mr. Geoffrey
Delamayn, in that case, the gentleman who had passed as her husband at
the inn?

Bishopriggs rose to his gouty feet with all possible alacrity, and
hobbled away to make the necessary inquiries, addressing himself, not to
the men-servants at the dinner-table, who would be sure to insist on
his joining them, but to the women-servants left in charge of the empty
house.

He easily obtained the necessary directions for finding the cottage. But
he was warned that Mr. Geoffrey Delamayn's trainer allowed nobody to see
his patron at exercise, and that he would certainly be ordered off again
the moment he appeared on the scene.

Bearing this caution in mind, Bishopriggs made a circuit, on reaching
the open ground, so as to approach the cottage at the back, under
shelter of the trees behind it. On