“Be so kind,” he said, “as to settle the bill here tonight. We leave by the seven o’clock train in the morning.”

“Tomorrow!” Aynesworth exclaimed.

“Precisely!”

“Do you mind,” he asked, “if I follow by a later train?”

“I do,” Wingrave answered. “I need you in London directly we arrive.”

“I am afraid,” Aynesworth said, after a moment’s reflection, “that it is impossible for me to leave.”

“Why?”

“You will think it a small thing,” he said, “but I have given my promise. I must see that child again before I go!”

“You are referring,” he asked, “to the black-frocked little creature we saw about the place yesterday?”

“Yes!”