No, though there was not the slightest trace of robbers or intruders, neither was there the slightest trace of the beautiful plague-patient. Everything in the house was precisely as it always was, but the silver shining vision was gone. CHAPTER III. THE COURT PAGE The search was given over at last in despair, and the doctor took his hat and disappeared. Sir Norman and Ormiston stopped in the lower hall and looked at each other in mute amaze. “What can it all mean?” asked Ormiston, appealing more to society at large than to his bewildered companion. “I haven't the faintest idea,” said Sir Norman, distractedly; “only I am pretty certain, if I don't find her, I shall do something so desperate that the plague will be a trifle compared to it!” “It seems almost impossible that she can have been carried off--doesn't it?” “If she has!” exclaimed Sir Norman, “and I find out the abductor, he won't have a whole bone in his body two minutes after!” “And yet more impossible that she can have gone off herself,” pursued Ormiston with the air of one entering upon an abstruse subject, and taking no heed whatever of his companion's marginal notes. “Gone off herself! Is the man crazy?” inquired Sir Norman, with a stare. “Fifteen minutes before we left her dead, or in a dead swoon, which is all the same in Greek, and yet he talks of her getting up and going off herself!” “In fact, the only way to get at the bottom of the mystery,” said Ormiston, “is to go in search of her. Sleeping, I suppose, is out of the question.” “Of course it is! I shall never sleep again till I find her!” They passed out, and Sir Norman this time took the precaution of turning the key, thereby fulfilling the adage of locking the stable-door when the steed was stolen. The night had grown darker and hotter; and as they walked along, the clock of St. Paul's tolled nine. “And now, where shall we go?” inquired Sir Norman, as they rapidly hurried on. “I should recommend visiting the house we found her first; if not there, then we can try the pest-house.” Sir Norman shuddered. “Heaven forefend she should be there! It is the most mysterious thing ever I heard of!” “What do you think now of La Masque's prediction--dare you doubt still?” “Ormiston, I don't know what to think. It is the same face I saw, and yet--” “Well--and yet--” “I can't tell you--I am fairly bewildered. If we don't find the lady at her own house, I have half a mind to apply to your friend, La Masque, again.” “The wisest thing you could do, my dear fellow. If any one knows your unfortunate beloved's whereabouts, it is La Masque, depend upon it.” “That's settled then; and now, don't talk, for conversation at this smart pace I don't admire.”