Lakefield now--at once. A train at seven-fifteen will get there a
little after nine. There are other trains through the evening, the
latest being at five minutes after ten. Should this reach you in time
to enable you to take one of them, you will be wise to do so; but in
case it may be too late, you may count on me to do all that can be
done. Let some one be ready to answer the telephone all night. I shall
communicate with the house from the Bay Tree Inn. I must ask you again
to forgive me if I am interfering rashly in your affairs, but you can
understand that I have no time to take counsel or reflect.

"DIANE EVELETH."

[Illustration: DRAWN BY FRANK CRAIG
HAVING MADE A COPY OF THIS LETTER, SHE CALLED SIMMONS AND FULTON AND
GAVE THEM THEIR INSTRUCTIONS]

Having made a copy of this letter, she called Simmons and Fulton and
gave them their instructions. There had been an accident, she said, of
which she had been able to get only imperfect information, but it seemed
possible that Miss Dorothea was involved in it. She herself was hurrying
to Lakefield, and it would be Simmons' task to find Mr. Pruyn in time
for him to catch the ten-five train, at latest. He was to pack two
valises with all that Mr. Pruyn could require for a change. He was to
take one of the two letters, and one of the two valises, and go from
place to place, until he tracked his master down. Fulton was to say
nothing to alarm the other servants, merely informing Miss Dorothea's
maid that the young lady was absent for the night and that Mrs. Eveleth
was with her. He would take charge of the second letter and the second
valise, in case Mr. Pruyn should return to the house before Simmons
could find him. The important charge of the telephone was also to be in
Fulton's trust, and he was to answer all calls through the night. In
concluding her directions Diane acknowledged her relief in having two
lieutenants on whose silence, energy, and tact she could so thoroughly
depend. She committed the matter to their hands not merely as to Mr.
Pruyn's butler and valet, but as to his trusted friends, and in that
capacity she was sure they would do their duty and hold their tongues.

In a similar spirit, when she arrived, about half-past nine, at the Bay
Tree Inn, she asked for the manager, and took him into her confidence. A
runaway marriage, she informed him, had been planned to take place that
very night at Lakefield, and she had come there as the