"Yes, he was," she replied with an effort. "I never saw him come out."
Durban wrinkled his dark brows. "Then how did he send the telegram, to which he has just now had an answer?" he demanded.
"How do you know that this wire is an answer, Durban?"
"The reply was prepaid, missy. How did master do it?"
Beatrice was equally puzzled. Alpenny had not been away from The Camp all the afternoon, yet had contrived to send a telegram, and prepay the reply.
[CHAPTER IV]
SEEN IN THE LIGHTNING
It was truly a mystery. So far as Beatrice knew, there were but two ways of getting out of The Camp--by the large gate and the smaller one. Yet she in the parlour-carriage, facing Alpenny's counting-house, had not seen him emerge; nor had Durban, busy in the kitchen, the door of which commanded a view of the postern, beheld his master depart. The telegraph office was at the railway station three miles away, and there was no one in The Camp save Durban and his young mistress to send with a wire. Yet the wire had been sent, and the reply had been received. Beatrice ventured an explanation.
"Perhaps my father sent the telegram yesterday."
"No, missy. I took none, and master did not leave the place. No telegram has been sent from here for the last month."