"Who did this, then?"
She held up her bleeding hands.
He tried to explain, and she seemed to understand partially, so much so as to lose her fear of the detective.
She began to laugh soon, and the late adventure seemed to pass entirely from her mind. Dyke was glad to have it so.
"Will you not lie down and rest?" he said presently. "We have a long journey to go in the morning."
"Where? To Hubert?"
"Yes, to Hubert."
Her great blue eyes regarded him wistfully, and a throb of pain entered his heart at thought of the beautiful girl's misfortune. There was growing in his heart a dangerous feeling, one that boded no good to Harper Elliston, should that man prove to be as he now believed, the Hubert Vander of the mad girl's dreams.
"Take me to Hubert now, kind sir. I know you can do so, and I shall die if he does not keep his word with me. He will never betray a poor girl—such a gentleman, and so good? Yes, I will do anything to please you, for it will bring dear Hubert back."
She went up and laid both hands on the shoulders of the detective, and looked so mournfully into his face as to touch the tenderness in his nature deeply. His heart bled for the girl who had been the victim of a villain's wiles.