"I will respect your silence," said the old man, taking his hand. "You are Horace North's friend, sir, and that is sufficient for me. You are going to town?" Salis nodded. "My house is at your disposal," said the doctor, and he handed Salis his card. At five o'clock, after due arrangements had been made, Joe Chegg was at the door with a chaise, ready to drive Salis over to the station at King's Hampton; but, long before that, Dally had begged Mrs Milt to "fetch Miss Mary," to whom the half-wild, sobbing girl had made a clean breast, of all she knew, and this had been communicated to the curate. "I need not fear leaving North--I mean on my sister's behalf?" said Salis, as he stood by the chaise. "Trust to me, my dear sir, and go without fear." Salis climbed into the chaise, and, with his head bent, was driven off through the chilly morning air in search of the fugitive who had nine hours' start; and as he recalled this he muttered: "I am too late!" Volume 3, Chapter XXIV. OUT OF THE SHADOW. Hartley Salis found that his words were correct. He was too late! He learned that "a gentleman," as the people at the hotel called him, had been staying at the hotel, that a lady, evidently Leo, had come in by the early train, and that they had gone. "Heaven only knows where, Mary, dear," said Salis a week later, as he lay upon the couch, utterly worn out with his efforts to trace the fugitives. "I am broken down. Thank God, dear, I am once more at home. And you?" "My dearest brother," she said tenderly, as she knelt beside him and laid her hand upon his burning brow. "Ah, that's cool and pleasant," he sighed, with his eyes closed. "Tell me about North--more than your letters said." "He is better--much better," said Mary, with an eagerness she made no attempt to conceal. "Yes," said Salis wearily; "so Mr Delton said." "Yes; so Mr Delton said, and he also said, my dear sir, that you too must have rest; your sister, recovering from her own illness, cannot afford to have two invalids on her hands." Salis looked up, and held out his hand to the old doctor, who had uttered the words softly, as doctors do: "You have hardly had a good night's rest since you left." "I have not been to bed," said Salis simply. "There, I will try and sleep now." The doctor made Mary a sign, and she drew back as Salis closed his eyes, and the breakfast which had been prepared as he drove in that morning from King's Hampton after travelling all night remained untasted. That was at seven o'clock, and it was seven at night when he awoke to look sharply round, and see Mary at the head of the couch. "I--where am--? Have I been asleep?" "Yes," said Mary softly. "Hah!" he ejaculated, springing up. "I have done all I could, Mary," he said almost appealingly. "I think they are married. It's a proud thing for us, dear, to have a lady of title for sister," he added bitterly, as he took Mary to his heart, and she felt it throbbing with his emotion.