The detective was driven to the station by Lord Ethalwood’s coachman, and in a few hours he was at the door of the cottage which had at one time been in the occupation of Mrs. Maitland.
He was informed by its present occupant that the former tenant had left; she went to live with her daughter and son-in-law at Rotheram, soon after their union.
Mr. Wrench hastened thither. He was informed that they had all left the town, and were residing somewhere in London.
The detective was not to be baffled. He waited on Tom Gatliffe’s former employer, and one of the partners informed him that their late foreman was managing a business in the Euston-road.
He put up at one of the leading hotels in Sheffield, having determined upon proceeding to the metropolis on the following day.
CHAPTER XXXI.
THE HOME OF THE WORKING MAN—THE ARRIVAL OF A STRANGER.
Since his marriage with Aveline Maitland the reader has heard but little of Tom Gatliffe. The young engineer was the best and most loving of husbands; he worked steadily at his business, and in every respect was persevering in his endeavours to improve his position; but trade at the works where he was employed was not nearly so flourishing as it had been prior to his marriage. He, in common with his fellow-workmen, suffered by the depression.
After remaining two years at Rotheram he accepted an offer to take the management of some works in London.
He had another reason for doing this. His young wife had grown tired of Sheffield, Rotheram, and their surroundings, and yearned to be a denizen of the great city about which she had heard so much, but of which she had seen so little.