until
supper-time, and changed their seats at table so that they might sit
nearer to her in the marquee. When the meal was over, and the washing
up and water carrying finished, nearly everybody collected for an
amateur concert. Miss Hoyle had a banjo, which she played atrociously
out of tune, but on which she nevertheless strummed accompaniments
while the rest roared out "Little Grey Home in the West," "The Long,
Long Trail," and other popular songs. It was certainly not classical
music, but it was amusing; and, as everybody joined in the choruses,
the company consisted entirely of performers, with no audience except
the cows in the adjacent pasture. Even Mrs. Vernon was singing, though
with an inscrutable look in her grey eyes hardly suggestive of
enjoyment.

"She's doing it as a blind!" whispered Raymonde to Aveline. "Don't let
her out of your sight for a single moment!"

When the fun was at its height, and everybody seemed fully occupied
with ragtimes, two pairs of watchful eyes noticed Mrs. Vernon slip
quietly away in the direction of her tent. She went inside for a
moment, then, coming out again with a parcel in her hand, walked
rapidly towards a stile that led into the fields. Raymonde and Aveline
allowed her to reach the other side of it, then flew like the wind to
a gap in the hedge through which they could see into the next meadow.
She was walking along the path among the hay, in the direction of the
wood, and was no doubt congratulating herself upon getting rid of her
camp-mates so easily. There was nothing at all unusual in the fact of
her taking a stroll; many of the workers did so in the evenings,
though they generally went two or three together. Had it not been for
the letter she had read at the post office, Raymonde's suspicions
would probably never have been aroused. The two girls crossed the
stile, and began to follow Mrs. Vernon as if they, too, were merely
enjoying an ordinary walk, leaving a considerable distance between her
and themselves. She turned round once, but as they were in the shadow
of the hedge she did not see them. It was a more difficult business to
track her through the wood. The light was waning fast here, and in
her brown costume she was sometimes almost indistinguishable among the
tree-trunks and bushes. That she was going to some specially arranged
trysting-place they were certain. Using infinite caution, they
followed her. Towards the middle of the wood she paused, looked round