“Yes. I have found out that much. She took a ticket by the midday train on the day after—it happened.”
“And why do you wish to find her?”
“Because she is deeply wronged—she is innocent.”
“You should be able to speak with authority on that point,” said Austin, with a cold glance, which the other did not meet. “You are acting very foolishly, rushing off to London on this quixotic mission. You won’t find her. Besides, no woman is worth what you are risking in this wild-goose chase. You are jeopardizing your future by an act of the maddest folly.”
“There is nothing in life for me but the shadow of things—now,” returned the young man in low tones. “I want nothing except to find Sisily and prove her innocence. I’m going to look for her, whatever you say.”
Austin Turold made an impatient gesture.
“Very well,” he said. “If Providence has made you a fool you must fulfil Providence’s decree. Only, I warn you, I think you are going the right way to bring trouble on yourself. That lawyer who was here to-day—what’s his name, Brimstone, Brimsdown?—has his suspicions, unless I’m very much mistaken.”
Charles turned pale. “What makes you think that?” he asked.
“By the way he watched both of us.”
“That accounts for his attitude when I saw him afterwards,” said Charles in a startled voice.