that the Cumbria summer, when it came, was delightful. And he signed
himself "your affectionate husband, Edmund Melrose."

Mrs. Dixon went into Pengarth for shopping on the fly which conveyed
Melrose to the station, and was to come out by carrier. After their
departure there was no one left in the house but the deaf old woman.
Netta and her maid preceeded to carry out a plan they had been long
maturing. Anastasia had a few pounds left of her Christmas wages; enough
to carry them to London; and for the rest, they had imagined an excellent
device.

The bronze Hermes had been left by Melrose in a cupboard in a locked room
on the first floor. When Mrs. Dixon came back that night, she discovered
that Mrs. Melrose, with her child and maid had quitted the house. They
had apparently harnessed the cart and horse themselves, and had driven
into Pengarth, taking a labourer with them to bring the cart home. They
had carried all their personal belongings away with them; and, after a
while, Mrs. Dixon, poking about, discovered that the door of one of the
locked rooms had been forced.

She also noticed, in one of the open drawers of Mrs. Melrose's bedroom, a
photograph, evidently forgotten, lying face downward. Examining it, she
saw that it was a picture of Netta, with the baby, taken apparently in
Italy during the preceding summer. The Cumbrian woman, shrewdly observant
like all her race, was struck by the tragic differences between the woman
of the picture and the little blighted creature who had just made a
flitting from the Tower.

She showed the photograph to her husband, returned it to the drawer, and
thought no more about it.