"Let us go to the Liversedges'," he exclaimed. "I have a cab"——

"Stop, Mr. Quarrier.—I haven't told you the worst. She ran from the house just as she was, without her hat"——

"What do you mean? Why should she——?"

"She was in a dreadful state. I had done my best to soothe her. I was just going to send for you. My servant saw her run out from the sitting-room into the garden, and the gate wasn't opened—she must have gone the back way—into the fields."

"Into the fields——?"

He stared at her with a look of gathering horror, and his tongue failed him.

"I followed that way. I searched everywhere. I went a long way over towards"——

She broke off, quivering from head to foot.

"But she must have gone somewhere for refuge—to some one's house."

"I hope so! Oh, I hope so!"