lway
time-table hanging in the hall. Having done this, he returned to
the library--wrote a short note of inquiry, addressed to the musical
agent--and rang the bell.

"Miss Silvester is expected in London, Duncan. I want a discreet person
to communicate with her. You are the person."

Duncan bowed. Sir Pa trick handed him the note.

"If you start at once you will be in time to catch the train. Go to that
address, and inquire for Miss Silvester. If she has arrived, give her
my compliments, and say I will have the honor of calling on her (on
Mr. Brinkworth's behalf) at the earliest date which she may find it
convenient to appoint. Be quick about it--and you will have time to get
back before the last train. Have Mr. and Mrs. Brinkworth returned from
their drive?"

"No, Sir Patrick."

Pending the return of Arnold and Blanche, Sir Patrick looked at Mr.
Crum's letter for the second time.

He was not quite satisfied that the pecuniary motive was really
the motive at the bottom of Anne's journey south. Remembering that
Geoffrey's trainers had removed him to the neighborhood of London, he
was inclined to doubt whether some serious quarrel had not taken
place between Anne and Mrs. Glenarm--and whether some direct appeal to
Geoffrey himself might not be in contemplation as the result. In that
event, Sir Patrick's advice and assistance would be placed, without
scruple, at Miss Silvester's disposal. By asserting her claim, in
opposition to the claim of Mrs. Glenarm, she was also asserting herself
to be an unmarried woman, and was thus serving Blanche's interests as
well as her own. "I owe it to Blanche to help her," thought Sir Patrick.
"And I owe it to myself to bring Geoffrey Delamayn to a day of reckoning
if I can."

The barking of the dogs in the yard announced the return of the
carriage. Sir Patrick went out to meet Arnold and Blanche at the gate,
and tell them the news.

Punctual to the time at which he was expected, the discreet Duncan
reappeared with a note from the musical agent.

Miss Silvester had not yet reached London; but she was expected to
arrive not later than Tuesday in the ensuing week. The agent had already
been favored with her instructions to pay the strictest attention to any
commands received from Sir Patrick Lundie. He would take care that
Sir Patrick's message should be given to Miss Silvester as soon as she
arrived.

At last, then, there was news to be relied on! At last there was a
prosp