PART THE SECOND.

THE DISCOVERY.

CHAPTER VIII.

ON the day after Isabel's departure, diligent Mr. Troy set forth for the
Head Office in Whitehall to consult the police on the question of the
missing money. He had previously sent information of the robbery to
the Bank of England, and had also advertised the loss in the daily
newspapers.

The air was so pleasant, and the sun was so bright, that he determined
on proceeding to his destination on foot. He was hardly out of sight of
his own offices when he was overtaken by a friend, who was also
walking in the direction of Whitehall. This gentleman was a person
of considerable worldly wisdom and experience; he had been officially
associated with cases of striking and notorious crime, in which
Government had lent its assistance to discover and punish the criminals.
The opinion of a person in this position might be of the greatest value
to Mr. Troy, whose practice as a solicitor had thus far never brought
him into collision with thieves and mysteries. He accordingly decided,
in Isabel's interests, on confiding to his friend the nature of his
errand to the police. Concealing the name, but concealing nothing else,
he described what had happened on the previous day at Lady Lydiard's
house, and then put the question plainly to his companion.