ng train was growing louder and ever louder. In a few minutes she
would be gone--"Where?" he asked himself.

"I'm wondering where she'll be going at this time o' night with nae
mair luggage than yon," said the keeper.

That decided it.

"Take the trap home and tell Miss Cromarty not to expect me to-night,"
said his master, quickly. "Say I've gone--oh, anywhere you derned well
like! There's something up and I'm going to see what it is."

He jumped quietly on the road just as the engine thundered between the
gates in front. By the time the train was at rest, he was over the gate
and making his way to the platform. He stopped in the darkness by the
rear end of the train till he saw the figure in black disappear into a
carriage, and then he stepped into a compartment near the guard's van.

"Haven't got a ticket, but I'll pay as I go along," he said to the guard
as he passed the window.

The guard knew Mr. Cromarty well and touched his cap, and then the train
started and Mr. Cromarty was embarked upon what he confessed to himself
was the blindest journey he had ever made in all his varied career.

Where was she going--and why was she going? He asked himself these
questions over and over again as he sat with a cigar between his teeth
and his long legs stretched out on the opposite seat, and the train
drove on into an ever wilder and more desolate land. It would be very
many miles and a couple of hours or more before they reached any sort of
conceivable destination for her, and as a matter of fact this train did
not go beyond that destination. Then it struck him sharply that up till
the end of last month the train had continued its southward journey. The
alteration in the timetable was only a few days old. Possibly she was
not aware of it and had counted on travelling to--where? He knew where
she had got to stop, but where had she meant to stop? Or where would she
go to-morrow? And above all, why was she going at all, leaving her
bicycle at a wayside station and with her sole luggage a small suit
case? Ned shook his head, tried to suck life into his neglected cigar,
and gave up the problem in the meanwhile.

As to the question of what business he had to be following Miss Farmond
like this, he troubled his head about it not at all. If she needed him,
here he was. If she didn't, he would clear out. But very strong and very
urgent was the conviction that she required a friend of some sort.

The stations were few and far