"Nine," echoed Dowker; "then in that case he must have stayed in town all night, as the last train to Shoreham is about half-past. I'll look into this business, but meantime I want to find out Desmond's little game." Flip had now finished, his meal and was waiting impatiently for instructions from his chief. "Wot's h'up, guv'nor?" he asked, his black beady eyes fixed on the detective. Dowker glanced at his watch. "It's about two," he said, replacing it, "and I want you to meet me at the Marble Arch about a quarter to three." "Wot for?" "To follow a lady and gentleman and overhear what they say," said Dowker; "I'll show you whom I mean. Don't lose a word of their conversation and then repeat it all to me." "I'm fly," said Flip with a wink, and then this curiously assorted pair departed, Dowker to his office for a few minutes, and Flip to wend his way to the rendezvous at the Marble Arch. CHAPTER IX. THE LANGUAGE OF LOVE. May Penfold was a very pretty girl, tall and fair-haired, with a pair of merry blue eyes, and a charming complexion. Her parents died when she was young and left her to the guardianship of Sir Rupert Balscombe, who certainly fulfilled his trust admirably. He had her well educated both intellectually and physically, so when she made her _début_ in London Society she was much admired. An accomplished musician and linguist, a daring horse-woman and a kindly disposition, it was no wonder that she was much sought after; but when added to these gifts it was also discovered that she possessed twenty thousand a year in her own right, she became the catch of the season, and many were the attempts made by hard-up scions of noble houses to secure her hand in marriage. But alas, for the contrary disposition of womankind, she would have none of the gilded youth but fixed her affections on Myles Desmond, a poor Irish gentleman, with nothing to recommend him but a handsome face, a clever brain and a witty tongue. In vain Lord Calliston asked her to be his wife, she coolly refused him, telling the astonished nobleman that neither his morals nor his manners were to her liking, and informed Sir Rupert that she intended to marry Myles Desmond.