"No, I'm afraid she has no friends," said Sheila, and her own assertion added to the shame she was beginning to feel at her action. "I was afraid," she added, "that you would not approve of what I have done." "Approve of what? Of sending a friendless girl adrift in the world? A girl who would have laid down her life for you, and whom you taught to love all that you enjoy? You are right. You could scarcely expect me to approve of that." "Oh, Peter!" Sheila looked at him reproachfully. He had never spoken so severely to her nor looked so stern. She burst into tears. He took no notice of her tears. "Every step must be taken to find her," he said shortly, "and to place her in a place of safety. It is terrible to think of a girl like that alone in the world, and," he added, as he turned to look at Sheila, "it is sad indeed to think that she is placed in this condition by one who has all the good things of life around her. I am disappointed in you, Sheila. But I must go and see what can be done." Peter ordered his cart and drove at once to the carpenter's shop and asked for the address of the young man who had put up the platform at the Court for the concert. "What kind of a man is he?" asked Peter. "All right I think, Sir. I have no fault to find with him, except that he is a bit dreamy sometimes. He came home from Friars Court the day before yesterday, saying that he wished to end his engagement with me as soon as possible. I asked him on what ground, and he had nothing to say for himself. I told him, however, he must stay anyhow till to-day as I was depending on him. He's a good workman." After getting Jem's address from the carpenter Peter drove to a street in the centre of Elminster, and throwing the reins to his man made his way into a dark court in one of the houses of which he had been told Jem had his lodgings. As he was about to knock at the door it opened and the man he was looking for appeared. Jem fell back a pace or two at the sight of his visitor, then his eyes flashed dangerously. "Do you live here?" asked Peter. "If so, may I come in?" Jem turned round without a word, leading the way up some dark rickety stairs. At the top he turned a handle and Peter found himself in a room low and comfortless. Only bare furniture could he see, and the furniture did not exactly match with the man who used it, who looked at his visitor with a pair of honest though fierce eyes. It was some time before Peter could make Jem understand the drift of his words. The man seemed dazed when he told him of Meg's disappearance. But when once he took in that she had fled from Friars Court he sprang from his seat in agitation and took up his cap, which he had flung on the table.