Like a man in a dream, Hugh found himself following Mr. Davidson to the "Anchor," one of the second-class hotels in the town. He was quite sure that this tall, military looking person was going to clear up the mystery of the couple whom Blankfield, in its wisdom, had refused to visit, and whose acquaintance he owed to a random meeting at a tea-shop. There were only one or two idlers in the entrance-hall of the hotel, which was of what is known as the "Commercial" kind. Murchison was glad to find that he did not seem to attract their observation, as he rapidly crossed over to where his new acquaintance was standing in a rather dark corner. Davidson piloted him into a little sitting-room which opened out of a long narrow passage. He rang the bell, and ordered refreshments with the manner of a man who was acquainted with the usages of polite society. It would be quite safe to say that Hugh, the heir to a great fortune, brought up in the lap of luxury, an aristocrat by adoption, if not exactly by birth, had never found himself up till now in such an environment. He could not truthfully declare that it was an experience he wished to repeat. Still, he could blame nobody but himself, his foolish action in taking up with a couple of persons whom Blankfield, in its superior worldly wisdom, had decided to ignore. As he was in for it, and nothing could undo the past, it was better to go through with it. Let him accommodate himself to the situation, drink his whisky-and-soda in this dingy little parlour of a second-rate hotel, and treat the detective with genial courtesy. After the first mouthful of his drink, Davidson began to explain. "Of course, sir, I quite understand this is not the sort of thing or the sort of place to which you are accustomed," he said, waving a deprecatory hand round the shabby little parlour. "But in this particular case, I and my friend--that friend I may say at the moment is elsewhere taking his observations--wanted to lie low. It didn't enter into our scheme to put up at a swagger hotel, and run the risk of gossip. It might have reached the ears of those we are after, and scared them off." Hugh listened attentively. There was something very serious in the wind now, and the dwellers at Rosemount were as yet unaware of what was impending. His surprise expressed itself in the direct question which he shot at the detective: "I take it you are here to arrest them, then?" "One of them, the man," corrected Mr. Davidson, quietly; "we know a good deal about the girl, but we have no evidence that implicates her beyond the fact of her association with him, and from our point of view that means nothing in a Court of Law." "What is his offence?" asked the startled Hugh.