Not till a fortnight had gone by did Nell hear from Mr. Piljoy. Then he wrote as follows:--

"Dear Miss Baynard,--Before parting from you last I told you that on getting back home I would lose no time in minutely questioning my clerk Tew with regard to all that passed between Mr. Cortelyon and himself at the signing of the will. As you may remember, the chief point that wanted clearing up was whether there was any possibility of the unsigned will having been substituted for the signed one during the two or three minutes Andry Luce was absent from the room. Tew is positive no such substitution took place. His words are: \'The signed will was never out of my keeping from the moment the witnesses left the room till Andry Luce\'s return, when, by Mr. Cortelyon\'s direction, I gave the will to him to be enclosed and sealed up.\' So we remain just as wise as we were before.

"I believe I told you that, for a little while to come, I thought it would be advisable to remain quiescent in the affair while awaiting the first move on the part of Mrs. Bullivant\'s solicitors, provided they thought it advisable to move at all. Well, a couple of days ago I was waited upon by Mr. Cotwell, the junior partner in a firm of Lanchester lawyers. He met me in a by no means hostile spirit, the main object of his visit being to obtain my permission to put to Tew the very question I had put to him already. Of course Tew could only give Mr. Cotwell the same answer that he had given me, and, so far as Mrs. Bullivant was concerned, there was no satisfaction to be got out of that.

"Cotwell and I had a long confabulation before he left. From certain hints he let fall, I judge that Mrs. B. has not scrupled to give expression to her belief that she was designedly tricked by Mr. C.--that of set purpose he caused the signed will to be burnt and left the unsigned one in existence; all which is an absolute contradiction of what Tew is prepared to swear to. But what strange beliefs will not a disappointed woman cherish, more especially when she sees cause for imagining that she has been hoodwinked into the bargain!

"After all, it seems to be very doubtful whether Mrs. B. will go to law. In my opinion it would be sheer madness on her part to do so, and I have very little doubt that, privately, Cotwell thinks the same, only, of course, he is bound to bark at the bidding of his client; but when it comes to biting--we shall see.

"At any rate, I shall wait no longer, but at once proceed to take the necessary steps for legalizing the rights of the youthful heir, as if no such person as Mrs. B. were in existence.

"Will you be good enough to inform me at your convenience under whose care the child is now living, and where he may be found, provided, of course, that his present address is known to you?"

Nell\'s reply was sent by the next post. It was on a Friday morning that Mr. Piljoy\'s letter came to hand, and had she not been suffering from a cold which had reduced her voice to a mere whisper, she would have set out for London within a few hours of her receipt of it. But, although she was hungering to see the child, a delay of a few days would not matter greatly, and doubtless she would be well enough to travel (it was a matter of between two hundred and fifty and three hundred miles, and all by coach) by the following Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest.

Tuesday morning came, and found Nell\'s few preparations made. Her impatience would brook no further delay. Places for herself and her maid had been secured in the London coach, which passed through Tuxford shortly after midday. But a surprise was in store for her.


p157
"Evan has been missing since yesterday."


The postman\'s time for arriving at Stanbrook was ten o\'clock or thereabouts. This morning he brought a letter for Miss Baynard, which she knew by the address, before opening it, to be from Mrs. Mardin. One of those intuitions which come to us we know not how or whence whispered to her that it was a bringer of ill tidings. Her fingers trembled as she opened it. All it had to tell was told in little more than a dozen words:--

"Evan has been missing since yesterday, and cannot be found anywhere. Come at once.

"Harriet Mardin."

Never had the journey to London seemed so long and tedious to Nell as it did on this occasion. From the coach office she drove to Lady Carradine\'s, where, although she had not advised her ladyship of her coming, she knew that she was sure of a welcome. Half an hour later she was on her way to Chelsea.

Mrs. Mardin received her with a burst of tears; indeed, the good soul had done little else than cry since the child had been missed. Her story did not take long in the telling.

It was a fine afternoon, and Evan had been playing, as he was often allowed to do, with some neighbors\' children in a field not more than a couple of hundred yards from the house. Mrs. Mardin had been on the point of going to call him in to tea, when one of his playmates came to tell her that Evan had gone off with a tall, dark gentleman, who went up to him in the field, and, telling him that "a pretty lady" had sent for him, led him away to a carriage which was waiting in the lane close by, into which they both got and were at once driven away. From the first Mrs. Mardin had felt convinced in her own mind that the boy had been abducted by means of a ruse, and that there was no intention of bringing him back.

Then she went on to inform Nell that she had not only written to her, but to Mr. Dare as well, who fortunately happened to be in town, and had lost no time in making his appearance at Lawn Cottage. Further, when told that Miss Baynard had been communicated with, and in all ............