“I am glad to hear you say so. Pray Heaven we may be successful; it will remove a weight off my heart.” The detective looked at the speaker and observed, quietly―― “You ought not to have let the matter go so long without ascertaining something respecting the young people’s whereabouts.” “Of that you must allow me to be the best judge,” said Lord Ethalwood, with all his old pride and hauteur. Mr. Wrench saw at once the mistake he had made in hazarding an observation which sounded very much like a reproof. “But you have a duty to perform, sir,” observed the earl, “and I doubt not that you will not shrink from carrying it out to the best of your ability.” The detective bowed and answered in the affirmative. He then rose and took his departure, promising his patron to wait upon him again in a day or two. Mr. Wrench inquired of the butler the most convenient house in the neighbourhood for him to put up at. Mr. Jakyl, as a matter of course, recommended him to go to the “Carved Lion,” and he at once bent his steps in the direction of that well-known hostelry. Lord Ethalwood had not sufficient fortitude to open his daughter’s letters in the presence of any one, more especially that one being a detective. It was a task he had reserved for another occasion. Soon after the departure of Mr. Wrench his lordship mustered up courage to break the seals of the epistles. As he did so a tremour seemed to pass through his frame. A deep sigh escaped from him as he opened the first letter. In this the letter referred to her elopement as a playful piece of diplomacy, never for a moment assuming that it would be deemed an unpardonable offence by her parent. She asked him to forgive her, and not be angry with his pet, as she had done that which had made her happy for life. Lord Ethalwood tossed the epistle on one side with something like contempt or disgust. The second letter was a little more serious in tone. In it she was lavish in her praise of Montini, who she said was the kindest and must considerate of husbands, he was so good, so clever――in short, there was no one like him. She besought her father to write, if only a few lines. She would not and could not believe that he intended to cast her off. “The infatuated senseless girl!” ejaculated the earl. “I never would have believed she could have so forgotten her position in life. For the life of me I cannot understand it.” These two communications were followed by imploring letters, in which she told him how hard the world was using them, and what miserable struggles they had passed through. But in this as in all others she spoke in the highest terms of her husband, who she said did his best to maintain a respectable position in the world; this was done for her sake more than his own, “and if,” she said in conclusion, “you only knew him half as well as I do, you would admire and esteem him; nay, more, I believe you would be proud of him.”