In the course of the following fortnight two more appearances were reported to the Baronet, both coming from members of his own household. In these cases the figure was avouched to have been encountered outside the house and in two widely separated parts of the grounds. When, on the morning to which we have now come, Mr. Lewis Clare failed to make his appearance at the breakfast table, Sir Gilbert, in something of a huff, sent a servant to his room with an ironical inquiry whether they might expect to see him downstairs by luncheon time. Presently the man came back with the news that Mr. Clare was not in his room and that his bed did not appear to have been slept in. Thereupon the Baronet’s eyes met those of Lady Pell. “What fresh folly has he been guilty of? What further disgrace is he going to bring upon himself and me?” were the questions they mutely asked. But to the servant he merely nodded and said, “That will do.” A little later, when her ladyship and Miss Thursby got up from table, he remarked to the former, “I will see you in the course of the morning”; which meant, “As soon as I have any news you shall be told it.” Then to himself he added, “I suppose I must employ Lisle to hunt him up again.” He lingered over his breakfast this morning in a way very unusual with him, as if hoping against hope that, from minute to minute, his grandson might make his appearance. He was leaning back in his chair, a prey to a host of bitter thoughts, when Trant, looking at once mysterious and important, entered the room, carrying in one hand a letter, and in the other a large key. “If you please, Sir Gilbert,” he said, in deprecatory tones, for he knew how ill his master brooked being disturbed when in a brown study, “this letter, addressed to you, with the key of the strong room, has just been found on your study table by the housemaid whose duty it is to dust the room. As the letter is marked ‘Immediate,’ I thought that perhaps——” “The key of the strong room lying on my study table, do you say?” broke in Sir Gilbert. “How could it possibly have got there?” While speaking he had taken both the key and the letter. Having put on his glasses he looked at the address on the letter and shook his head. The writing was wholly strange to him. Wondering greatly, he laid the key on the table in front of him and broke open the envelope. Trant stole out of the room on tiptoe; he seemed to scent a mystery. “Should Sir Gilbert Clare,” began the letter, “feel anxious as to the whereabouts of his self-styled grandson he will find him locked up in the strong room, the key of which accompanies this missive. It will be for the young man to explain to Sir Gilbert’s satisfaction the nature of the business which took him there between twelve and one o’clock this morning.