CHAPTER TWENTY THREE. PLACES MATTERS IN A NEW LIGHT. The words upon the second slip of paper were,-- "Ellice believes that Sybil still loves Wilfrid Hughes. This is incorrect. Tell him so. The girl is merely using Hughes for her own purposes. She loves Arthur Rumbold. I have just learnt the truth-- something that will astonish you." Rumbold! Who was Arthur Rumbold? I had never heard mention of him. This was certainly a new feature of the affair. Sybil had a secret lover of whom I was in ignorance. She was no doubt still in communication with him, and through him had learnt of Eric's whereabouts and other facts that had surprised me. I read and re-read the letter, much puzzled. She was only using me for her own purposes--or in plain English she was fooling me! I was angry with myself for not being more wary. The train stopped at Preston, and then rushed north again as I sat alone in the corner of the carriage thinking deeply, and wondering who was this man Rumbold. At Carlisle another surprise was in store for me, for I found a hurried note from Sybil saying that she had unfortunately been recognised by a friend and compelled to leave. She had gone on to Glasgow, and would await me there at the Central Station Hotel. Therefore, by the Scotch express at two o'clock that morning I travelled up to Glasgow, and on arrival found to my chagrin that she had stayed there one night, and again left. There was a note for me, saying that she had gone to Dumfries, but that it would be best for me not to follow. "Return to Newcastle and await me," she wrote. "My quick movements are imperative for my own safety. I cannot tell you in a letter what has happened, but will explain all when we meet." "By what train did the lady leave?" I inquired of the hall-porter who had handed me the letter. "The six-twenty last night, sir," was the man's answer. "I got her ticket--a first-class one to Fort William." "Then she went north--not south," I exclaimed, surprised. "Of course." Sybil had misled me in her letter by saying that she had gone to Dumfries, when really she had travelled in the opposite direction. She had purposely misled me. "The lady left hurriedly, it would appear." "Yes, sir. About five o'clock a gentleman called to see her, and she met him in the hall. She was very pale, I noticed, as though she was surprised at his visit, or rather upset. But they went out together. She returned an hour later, wrote this letter, which she told me to give to you if you called, and then left for Fort William." "And did the man call again?" "Yes. She said he would, and she told me to tell him that she had gone to Edinburgh. I told him that, and he seemed very surprised, but went away. He was in evening dress, and it seemed as though they had intended dining together. She seemed," added the man rather sneeringly, "to be more like a lady's-maid than a lady." "But the gentleman, describe him to me."