o him passively. He raised it to his lips. It was his
active pronouncement of himself as her suitor. I watched her closely,
and so did Allan. But she gave no sign. She held out her hand to us,
too--a cold, sad little hand it felt--and turned away. There was
something curiously subdued about her movements as well as her silence
as she passed out of sight.

Arthur took up his hat. He was nervous and uneasy. His tone was almost
threatening.

"I shall be here early in the morning," he said. "I suppose you will
allow me to see Isobel?"

"By all means," I answered. "As things are now you need not go away
unless you like. Your room is still empty. Our compact is at an end.
Stay if you will."

He hesitated for a moment, and then threw down his hat. He sank into an
easy chair, and covered his face with his hands.

"I've been a beast, I know!" he half sobbed. "I can't help it. Isobel is
everything in the world to me. You fellows can't imagine how I care for
her."

I laid my hand upon his shoulder--a little wearily, perhaps, though I
tried to infuse some sympathy into my tone.

"Cheer up, Arthur!" I said. "You have your chance. Don't make a trouble
of it yet."

Arthur shook his head despondently.

"I think," he said, "that she will go to Waldenburg!"

Book III

CHAPTER I

Arthur flung himself into the room pale, hollow-eyed, the picture of
despair.

"Any news?" he cried, hopelessly enough, for he had seen my face.

"None," I answered.

"Anything from Feurgeres?"

"Not yet."

"Tell me again--where did you telegraph him?"

"Dover, Calais, Paris, Ostend, Brussels, Cologne!"

"And no reply?"

"As yet none."

"Let us look again at the note you found."

I smoothed it out upon the table. We had read it many times.

"There is something else which I must tell you before I leave
England. Come to me at once. The bearer will bring you. Come alone.

"HENRI FEURGERES.

"P.S.--You will be back in an hour. Disturb no one. It is possible
that I may ask you to keep secret what I have to say."

"This note," I remarked, tapping it with my forefinger, "was taken in to
Isobel by Mrs. Burdett at a quarter to eight. It was brought, she said,
by a respectable middle-aged woman, with whom Isobel left the place soon
after eight. We heard of this an hour later. At eleven o'clock we began
the search for Monsieur Feurgeres. At three, Allan discovered that he
had left the _Savoy Hotel_