"Yes," she replied. "Surely you recognise me?" and she raised her veil, displaying a rather unprepossessing face, dark and tragic, as though full of some hidden, sorrow. I had never seen the woman before in my life, but instantly I resolved to display no surprise and act with caution. "Ah, of course!" I said lamely. "The light here is so bad, you know, that I didn't recognise you. And where are you going?" "To London--to the dressmaker's." "Mrs Heaton has sent you on some commission, I suppose?" "Yes, sir." "You joined this train at Exeter, then?" "I came from Exmouth to Exeter, and changed," she explained. "I saw you get in at Lympston." My heart sank within me. It was evident that this woman had been sent by my self-styled wife to keep watch upon my movements. If I intended to escape I should be compelled to make terms with her. Those sharp dark eyes, with a curious light in them--eyes that seemed strangely staring and vacant at times--were fixed upon me, while the smile about her thin lips was clearly one of triumph, as though she had caught me in the act of flying from my home. I reflected, but next moment resolved to take her into my confidence. I disliked her, for her manner was somewhat eccentric, and, furthermore, I had only her own word that she was really maid to that angular woman who called herself my wife. Nevertheless, I could do naught else than make a bargain with her. "Now," I said at last, after some desultory conversation, "I want to make a suggestion to you. Do you think that if I gave you a ten-pound note you could forget having met me to-night? Do you think that you could forget having seen me at all?" "Forget? I don't understand." "Well, to put it plainly, I'm going to London, and I have no desire that anybody should know that I'm there," I explained. "When I am found to be missing from Denbury, Mrs Heaton will do all in her power to discover me. You are the only person who knows that I've gone to London, and I want you to hold your tongue." She smiled again, showing an even row of white teeth. "I was sent by my mistress to travel by this train and to see where you went," she said bluntly. "Exactly as I thought," I answered. "Now, you will accept this as a little present, and return to Denbury to-morrow after a fruitless errand--utterly fruitless, you understand?" She took the ten sovereigns I handed her, and transferred them to her purse, promising to say nothing of having met me. I gathered from her subsequent conversation that she had been maid to Mrs Heaton ever since her marriage, and that she had acted as confidential servant. Many things she mentioned incidentally were of the greatest interest to me, yet they only served to show how utterly ignorant I was of all the past. "But why did you disclose your identity?" I inquired, when the lights showed that we were entering the London suburbs.