he won't have a whole bone in his body two minutes after!"

"And yet more impossible that she can have gone off herself,"
pursued Ormiston with the air of one entering upon an abstruse
subject, and taking no heed whatever of his companion's marginal
notes.

"Gone off herself! Is the man crazy?" inquired Sir Norman, with
a stare. "Fifteen minutes before we left her dead, or in a dead
swoon, which is all the same in Greek, and yet he talks of her
getting up and going off herself!"

"In fact, the only way to get at the bottom of the mystery," said
Ormiston, "is to go in search of her. Sleeping, I suppose, is
out of the question."

"Of course it is! I shall never sleep again till I find her!"

They passed out, and Sir Norman this time took the precaution of
turning the key, thereby fulfilling the adage of locking the
stable-door when the steed was stolen. The night had grown
darker and hotter; and as they walked along, the clock of St.
Paul's tolled nine.

"And now, where shall we go?" inquired Sir Norman, as they
rapidly hurried on.

"I should recommend visiting the house we found her first; if not
there, then we can try the pest-house."