Drake didn't know where she had gone, but he thought he understood why she had gone. She meant to abide by her resolution to break with him. Her love had changed to distrust, perhaps--God knew!--to actual dislike. He turned to the horse and mechanically arranged the bridle. "It--it doesn't matter," he said. "I'll take the horse down. Oh, by the way, Dick, I may have to go to London to-night." "What, you, too!" said Dick. "I say, there's nothing serious the matter, is there? It's only a lovers' tiff, isn't it?" "I'm afraid not," said Drake, as calmly as he could. "See here, Dick, we won't talk about it; I can't. Your--your sister has broken our engagement----Hold on! there's no use discussing it. She's quite right. Do you hear? She's quite right," he repeated, with a sudden fierceness. "Everything she says is right. I--I admit it. I am to blame." "Why, that's what she said!" exclaimed the mystified and somewhat exasperated Dick. "What she has said is true--too true," continued Drake; "and there's no more to be said. When you write--if you see her, tell her that--that--I obey her--it's the least I can do--and that I won't--won't worry her. Her word, her wish, is law to me. And--and you may say I deserve it all. You may say, too, that----" He broke off, and slowly, with the heaviness of a man become suddenly tired, got on his horse. "No; say nothing, excepting that I obey her, and that I won't worry her. Good-by, Dick." He held out his hand, and Dick, with an anxious face and bewildered eyes, clung to it. "Here, I say, Drake; this is awful! You don't mean to say it's 'good-by'! I don't understand." "I'm afraid it is," said Drake, pulling himself together, and forcing a smile. "I'm sorry to leave you, Dick; you and I have been good friends; but--well, the best of friends must part. I shall have gone to-night. I can catch the train. Look up Bardsley & Bardsley." With a nod--the nod which we give nowadays when we are saying farewell with a broken heart--he turned the horse down the hill and rode away. He tossed his things into a portmanteau, got the one available trap to carry them to the station, and caught the night mail. At Salisbury he changed for Southampton, and reached that flourishing port the next morning. The sailing master of the _Seagull_ happened to be on board when the owner of that well-known yacht was rowed alongside, and he hastened to the side and touched his hat as Drake climbed the ladder. "Did you wire, my lord?" he asked. "I haven't had anything." "No; I came rather unexpectedly," said Drake quietly. "Is everything ready?" "Quite, my lord, or nearly so. I think we could sail, say, in half a dozen hours." Drake nodded. "If my cabin is ready, I'll go below and change," he said. "We'll sail as soon as possible."