"You are punctual," said she at last.

"I have been here ever since noon."

"You did not go out, then?"

"No, I staid here for you."

His tone expressed the deepest devotion, and his eyes, as they rested
on her for a moment, had the same expression.

Hilda looked at him benignantly and encouragingly.

"You have been gone long, and I dare say you have been gone far," she
said. "It is this which I want to hear about. Have you found out any
thing, and what have you found out?"

"Yes, I have been gone long," said Gualtier, "and have been far away;
but all the time I have done nothing else than seek after what you
wish to know. Whether I have discovered any thing of any value will
be for you to judge. I can only tell you of the result. At any rate
you will see that I have not spared myself for your sake."

"What have you done?" asked Hilda, who saw that Gualtier's devotion
was irrepressible, and would find vent in words if she did not
restrain him. "I am eager to hear."

Gualtier dropped his eyes, and began to speak in a cool business
tone.

"I will tell you every thing, then, Miss Krieff," said he, "from the
beginning. When I left here I went first to London, for the sake of
making inquiries about the elopement. I hunted up all whom I could
find whose memories embraced the last twenty years, so as to see if
they could throw any light on this mystery. One or two had some faint
recollection of the affair, but nothing of any consequence. At length
I found out an old sporting character who promised at first to be
what I wished. He remembered Lady Chetwynde, described her beauty,
and said that she was left to herself very much by her husband. He
remembered well the excitement that was caused by her flight. He
remembered the name of the man with whom she had fled. It was
_Redfield Lyttoun_."

"_Redfield Lyttoun_!" repeated Hilda, with a peculiar expression.

"Yes; but he said that, for his part, he had good reason for
believing that it was an assumed name. The man who bore the name had
figured for a time in sporting circles, but after this event it was
generally stated that it was not his true name. I asked whether any
one knew his true name. He said some people had stated it, but he
could not tell. I asked what was the name. He said Pomeroy."

As Gualtier said this he raised his eyes, and those small gray orbs
seemed to burn and flash with triumph as they encountered the gaze of
Hilda. She said not a word, but h