could swear to--Something Farm. If it had been a place I'd known, I think
I should have remembered the name."

"Can I see the man who drove them?" Gilbert asked quickly.

"The young man that drove them, sir, has left me, and has left these
parts a month come next Tuesday. Where he has gone is more than I can
tell you. He was very good with horses; but he turned out badly, cheated
me up hill and down dale, as you may say--though what hills and dales
have got to do with it is more than I can tell--and I was obliged to get
rid of him."

"That's provoking. But if the people I want are anywhere within ten miles
of this place, I don't suppose I should be long finding them. Yet the
mere fact of two strangers coming here, and going on to some place called
a farm, seems very slight ground to go upon. The month certainly
corresponds with the time at which Mr. and Mrs. Holbrook came to
Hampshire. Did you take any particular notice of them?"

"I took particular notice of the lady. She was as pretty a woman as ever
I set eyes upon--quite a girl. I noticed that the gentleman was very
careful and tender with her when he put her into the carriage, wrapping
her up, and so on. He looked a good deal older than her, and I didn't
much like his looks altogether."

"Could you describe him?"

"Well--no, sir. The time was short, and he was wrapped up a good deal;
the collar of his overcoat turned up, and a scarf round his neck. He had
dark eyes, I remember, and rather a stern look in them."