Leigh bowed his head, for he could not speak. A horrible sensation, as if he were about to be attacked by a fit, assailed him, and he had to battle with it to think and try to grasp what this meant. One moment there was the fear that violence had been used; the next that it meant a willing flight; and he was fiercely struggling with the bitter thoughts which came, suggesting that his love for this delicate, gentle girl was a mockery, for she was either weak, or had long enough before bound herself to another, when he was brought back to the present by the action of the Squire, who, after a sharp glance round, stooped to pick up the door-key from where it lay on the carpet after being turned and pushed out by means of a piece of wire, in the hope, as suggested by Samuel, that it could be picked out afterwards at the bottom of the door, a plan which had completely failed. Wilton thrust in the key, turned it, and opened the door, to admit his wife and the maid. "Miss Kate, Miss Kate," cried the latter. "Call louder," said Wilton, mockingly. "There's no one here." "James, James, my dear, what does this mean?" cried Mrs Wilton excitedly. "Bed not been slept in; window open--ladder outside--can't you see?" Eliza looked at him wildly, as if she could not grasp his words; then with a cry she rushed to a wardrobe, dragged it open, and examined the hooks and pegs. "Hat--waterproof!" she cried; and then with a faint shriek--"Gone?" "Yes, gone," said Wilton brutally. "Here, Maria; this way." "Yes, yes; Claud's room. Come quickly, Doctor, pray." Pierce Leigh followed the Wiltons along the corridor, hardly knowing where he was going, in the wild turmoil which raged, in his brain. There were moments when he felt as if he were going mad; others when he was ready to think that he was suffering from some strange aberration which distorted everything he saw and heard, till he was brought back to himself by the Squire's voice which begat an intense desire to know the worst. "Here, Claud," he shouted, after thumping hard at his son's bedroom door without result. "Claud! No nonsense, sir; I want you. Something serious has happened. Answer at once if you are here." There was not a sound to be heard, and Mrs Wilton sobbed aloud. "Oh, my boy, my boy! I'm sure he is dead." "Bah!" cried Wilton, angrily. "Here, who has been trying to get in this room?" No one answered, and Wilton bent down and looked through the keyhole. "Has anyone pushed the key out to make it fall inside?" A low murmur of inquiry followed the question, but there was no reply. "Come round to the front, Doctor," said Wilton then, and Leigh followed him in silence downstairs and out to where the men were waiting with the ladder.