In this position of affairs, as Julian understood it, there
seemed to be no other alternative than to make his inquiries
instantly at the lodge and then to direct the search in person.
He looked toward Mercy's chair as he arrived at this resolution.
It was at a cruel sacrifice of his own anxieties and his own
wishes that he deferred continuing the conversation with her from
the critical point at which Lady Janet's appearance had inte
rrupted it.
Mercy had risen while he had been questioning the servant. The
attention which she had failed to accord to what had passed
between his aunt and himself she had given to the imperfect
statement which he had extracted from the man. Her face plainly
showed that she had listened as eagerly as Lady Janet had
listened; with this remarkable difference between there, that
Lady Janet looked frightened, and that Lady Janet's companion
showed no signs of alarm. She appeared to be interested; perhaps
anxious--nothing more.
Julian spoke a parting word to his aunt.
"Pray compose yourself," he said "I have little doubt, when I can
learn the particulars, that we shall easily find this person in
the grounds.
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