"You have put into words the fear which assails me." "But," said Mrs. Holdfast, clinging to every argument against the horrible suspicion now engendered, "had anything of the kind happened, it would have been in the newspapers, and would have been brought to my ears." "There are such things," said her friend, impressively, "as mysterious disappearances. Men have been robbed and murdered, and never more heard of. Men have left their homes, in the midst of crowded cities, intending to return within an hour, and have disappeared for ever." It is easier to imagine than to describe the state of Mrs. Holdfast's mind at these words. They seemed, as she expressed it, "to drain her heart of hope." "What would you advise me to do?" she asked, faintly. "To go at once to a lawyer," was the sensible answer, "and place the matter in his hands. Not an hour is to be lost; and the lawyer you consult should be one who is familiar with criminal cases. I have the address of such a gentleman, and I should recommend you to drive to his office immediately, and lay the whole case before him." Mrs. Holdfast took the advice given to her, and drove at once to the lawyer who was recommended to her. He listened to her story, and allowed her to tell it in her own way without interruption; and when she had finished, he put a variety of questions to her, many of which appeared to her trivial and unnecessary. Before she left the office the lawyer said, "If your husband is in England, we will find him for you." With this small modicum of comfort she was fain to be satisfied; but as she rode home she shuddered to think that she had seen on the lawyer's lips the unspoken words, "dead or alive." That is what the lawyer meant to express: "If your husband is in England, we will find him for you, dead or alive." Another of his actions haunted her. At a certain point of the conversation, the lawyer had paused, and upon a separate sheet of paper had made the following memorandum--"Look up the murders. How about the murder in Great Porter Square?" She was curious to see what it was he had written with so serious an air, and she rose and looked at the paper, and read the words. How dreadful they were! "Look up the murders. How about the murder in Great Porter Square?" The appalling significance of the memorandum filled her with terrible forbodings.