Alban reached London early enough in the afternoon to find the doctor at his luncheon. “Too late to see Mrs. Ellmother,” he announced. “Sit down and have something to eat.”

“Has she left any message for me?”

“A message, my good friend, that you won’t like to hear. She is off with her mistress, this morning, on a visit to Mr. Mirabel’s sister.”

“Does he go with them?”

“No; he follows by a later train.”

“Has Mrs. Ellmother mentioned the address?”

“There it is, in her own handwriting.”

Alban read the address:—“Mrs. Delvin, The Clink, Belford, Northumberland.”

“Turn to the back of that bit of paper,” the doctor said. “Mrs. Ellmother has written something on it.”

She had written these words: “No discoveries made by Mr. Mirabel, up to this time. Sir Jervis Redwood is dead. The Rooks are believed to be in Scotland; and Miss Emily, if need be, is to help the parson to find them. No news of Miss Jethro.”

“Now you have got your information,” Doctor Allday resumed, “let me have a look at you. You’re not in a rage: that’s a good sign to begin with.”

“I am not the less determined,” Alban answered.

“To bring Emily to her senses?” the doctor asked.

“To do what Mirabel has not done—and then to let her choose between us.”

“Ay? ay? Your good opinion of her hasn’t altered, though she has treated you so badly?”

“My good opinion makes allowance for the state of my poor darling’s mind, after the shock that has fallen on her,” Alban answered quietly. “She is not my Emily now. She will be my Emily yet. I told her I was convinced of it, in the old days at school—and my conviction is as strong as ever. Have you seen her, since I have been away at Netherwoods?”

“Yes; and she is as angry with me as she is with you.”

“For the same reason?”

“No, no. I heard enough to warn me to hold my tongue. I refused to help her—that’s all. You are a man, and you may run risks which no young girl ought to encounter. Do you remember when I asked you to drop all further inquiries into the murder, for Emily’s sake? The circumstances have altered since that time. Can I be of any use?”

“Of the greatest use, if you can give me Miss Jethro’s address.”

“Oh! You mean to begin in that way, do you?”

“Yes. You know that Miss Jethro visited me at Netherwoods?”

“Go on.”

“She show............