"O dear no, Mr. Fenton. She went away altogether about a month after the
Captain's death."

"Where did she go?"

"I cannot tell you that, I did not even know that she intended leaving
Hazel Cottage until the day after she left. When I saw the shutters
closed and the board up, you might have knocked me down with a feather.
Miss Nowell was so much liked in Lidford, and she had more than one
invitation from friends to stay with them for the sake of a change after
her uncle's death; but she would not visit anywhere. She stayed quite
alone in the cottage, with only the old servant."

"But there must surely be some one in the place who knows where she has
gone!" exclaimed Gilbert.

"I think not. The landlord of Hazel Cottage does not know. He is my
landlord also, and I was asking him about Miss Nowell when I paid my rent
the other day. He said he supposed she had gone away to be married. That
has been the general impression, in fact, at Lidford. People made sure
that Miss Nowell had left to be married to you."

"I have only just returned from Australia. I have come back to fulfil my
engagement to Miss Nowell. Can you suggest no one from whom I am likely
to obtain information?"

"There is the family at the Rectory; they knew her very well, and were
extremely kind to her after her uncle's death. It might be worth your
while to call upon Mr. Marchant."