o feel apparently that we had a right to
explanations.

There was no use in endeavouring to make further enquiries. Even if Lady
Tressidy or Sir Walter did know the destination of the newly-wedded
pair, it was more than improbable that they would be ready to share
their knowledge with us. And it was like Carson Wildred to be prepared
even for the very emergency which had now arisen, by taking just such
precautions as he had.

Had we not been impatient and chosen the steep road, less often
travelled than the other, we should no doubt have met the carriage which
drove the bridal couple to the Haslemere station. Another
exemplification of the old proverb, that "the more haste, the less
speed." We could now only repair our mistake, if it still admitted of
reparation, by giving chase with such speed as was practicable.

I gave the order to the coachman, "Drive to the station as quick as you
can," and in another moment we were off.

Fate seemed to have ordained that I should meet nothing save
disappointment at this door; but to-day's experience had brought me
something far deeper and more cruel than mere disappointment. I had not
counted upon the chance that Wildred would be permitted to hurry on the
wedding during my absence, and now I felt as though a chasm had suddenly
yawned under my feet. Karine was Carson Wildred's wife!

"What are we to do?" questioned her brother dully. "We can't leave her
with him, you know."

Leave her with him! The very fact that I was obliged to answer him gave
me back the power of concentrating thought. A moment before my mind had
been a blank, a chaos; but now I returned, unhesitatingly--

"We'll find out where they've gone, and have him arrested and your
sister taken from him before nightfall."

"But supposing they've gone abroad--which is what they very likely
mean--before we can catch them?"

"We _must_ catch them. There won't be a train till later in the
afternoon by which they can get away now. They'd have to go by the night
boat, if it was France. Somehow or other--though everything seems
against us, and we are only two, where there ought to be a dozen going
in as many ways at once--we'll circumvent that devil yet."

"You have plenty of confidence in yourself," said Cunningham. "Perhaps
you don't know Carson Wildred as well as I do."

I did not answer, though the words rang ominously in my ears. I was very
busy with my own thoughts.

As soon as we could find out where Wildre