perhaps, may have secured her."

"But why?" I asked.

"He may want a quarter of a million of money and yet have no desire to
marry. It is a theory, but unsatisfactory, I admit. One thing, however,
we may take as certain. Eva Wilkinson was not driven away in that car. We
have no news of any suspicious car being seen in any other direction, nor
of any suspicious people being seen about, and it seems obvious that a
false trail was laid for us. Wigan, it is quite possible that the girl
never left Whiteladies at all, that she is hidden there now, in fact.
Doesn't the disappearance of that coat and skirt tend to corroborate
this? She was in evening dress at the time. It would be natural to get
her another dress."

"That would mean confederates in the house," I said.

"Exactly. This girl Perry, perhaps, in league with her lover, the
gamekeeper; or it may be Mrs. Reville herself. We are going down to
Whiteladies to-morrow to try and find out, and we are going circumspectly
to work, Wigan. You shall go to the house in the ordinary way, while I
stroll across to the ruins. They are a likely hiding place. It will be
dark, and I may chance upon some one keeping watch. In a few words you
can explain our idea to Sir Michael, and then, without letting the
servants know, you can come and find me in the ruins."

It was nearly dark when we arrived at Whiteladies on the following day,
and as arranged, I left Quarles before we reached the lodge gates--in
fact, helped him over a fence into the park before I went on to the house
alone. Near the front door I found Mrs. Reville giving a couple of pug