Thus urged, the man walked into a dimly-lighted room, which was almost entirely bare of furniture.
August followed and gazed about the cabin, not a little surprised to find it empty. A light burned on a shelf at one side of the room—a tallow dip—that sputtered and threatened soon to leave the place in total darkness.
The cabin presented no evidence of having been inhabited of late.
One glance about the room, then August regarded his guide for the first time in the light.
He started involuntarily.
He had seen the man before. It was the same person he had seen in the carriage with the woman on the day that he first noticed the placard announcing a reward for the capture of Victoria Vane's murderer.
He had heard him called Mr. Brown.
This fact at once roused the suspicions of the young engineer to fever-heat. He believed now that he was the victim of a deep-laid plot.
With his hand on his revolver, he looked the bearded stranger squarely in the face, and said:
"Mr. Brown, what does this mean?"