"Yes, I did," said Hersham, in some astonishment. "But how do you know that?"
"I'll tell you later on," replied Fanks, smiling. "But about the result of your trip to Taxton-on-Thames?"
Hersham's face fell. "There was no result," he said, in a low voice. "When I arrived I went at once to Briar Cottage and asked for Anne. I was told that she had gone up to town by the five o'clock train."
"Gone up to town!" repeated Fanks. "That is curious. Why did she go up to town after sending you a wire to bring you down?"
"I can't say. She returned by the night train, and I was at the station to meet her. I asked her why she had gone to town, and she refused to tell me. She merely said that she had sent the wire shortly before five o'clock, and that she had found occasion to go up by the five train."
"Can you conjecture what took her to town?"
"No; and she will not tell me."
Fanks said nothing. He was meditating on the strange story told to him by Hersham, and on the stranger conduct of Anne Colmer. The mystery concerning this young lady, which had begun in the chambers of Sir Gregory, seemed to be thickening. Fanks was puzzled and gloomy.