take them?"

"Who said that I did?" boldly inquired the man addressed.

"I said so!" as firmly replied the driver who had given the
information to Mr. Lane. "What interest have you in denying it?"

Murphy evinced some surprise at this, and looked a little dashed,
but repeated his denial.

A new fear instantly seized Mr. Lane. His wife might have been
entrapped into some den of infamy, through means of the driver she
had employed to convey her to an hotel. The thought affected him
like an electric shock.

"You are certain of what you say?" asked Mr. Lane, turning to the
hackman he had employed.

"Certain," was answered positively.

"Is there a police officer near at hand?" was the next inquiry. This
was intended as no threat; and Murphy understood its meaning.

The eyes of Mr. Lane were fixed on his face, and he saw in it a
guilty change. No reply being made to the question about a police
officer, Mr. Lane said, addressing the accused hackman--

"If you wish to escape trouble, take me instantly to the house where
I can find the lady you took from the boat last night. She is my
wife, and I will go through fire and water to find her; and let him