"Well, she isn't here." Owen spoke harshly. "You were very ready to take her away, with your damned philanderings and what not, but you might at least have looked after her. Where is she? Good God, man, you're not only a blackguard and a thief--you're a damned fool as well!" "I may be a fool, but I'm not a blackguard!" Mr. Dowson's eyes blazed in his pallid face. "_I_ didn't marry the girl and then neglect her--_I_ didn't win her love and then throw it aside as of no importance--_I_ didn't break her heart with my sneers and coldness, as you did. You may be her husband and I'm only a man who loves her, but I'll guarantee I'd have known how to treat her a million times better than you ever did." The two men glared at one another furiously; and for a moment Herrick feared Owen was about to strike the man who defied him. Owen's face was convulsed with rage, his eyes looked almost black, and a vein in his temple hammered madly. Herrick stepped forward hastily. "I say, excuse me reminding you that this is not the time for recriminations. Mrs. Rose has not returned, and the thing to do now is to set all possible inquiries on foot. You agree with me, Rose?" Owen turned to him, the passion dying out of his face, leaving only a great weariness and a great dread. "You are right. We must find Toni. But how?" "Well, we'd better make inquiries at Stratton first. You are on the 'phone? Good. Well, we will ring up the railway station, and the hotels. Mrs. Rose may have gone to one of them for the night. And we could try the garages. Possibly she will hire a car to bring her home." "Yes. And I'll order out the car and try the roads myself." Owen looked suddenly alert. "If she should be attempting to walk home, or anything of that sort, I should pick her up." "Yes. And I should give orders to the servants to have everything ready for Mrs. Rose--food, and fires, and things, when she returns. She'll be chilled to the bone with this mist." "Yes. I'll do it at once. I'll go and get on the 'phone, if you'll be so good as to ring for the servants. I'll order a fire in her room, and a little supper." He turned away, full of hope now that there was something to be done; and Herrick was following him, when Dowson, who had been temporarily forgotten, asserted his presence. "And what am I to do while you're searching for her?" His rage had died away, and he looked the picture of dejection. "Can't I do anything? I--you know I'd die for Toni--for Mrs. Rose. Can't you suggest something for me to be doing?" Owen turned on him fiercely. "_You?_ You've done enough harm for one night. Suppose you take yourself off--we've seen all we want of you, I assure you." "But----" "Don't stand arguing there," said Owen in a voice whose fury made the young man wince. "We've had more than enough of you. Be so good as to take yourself off before I kick you out of the house."