Volume Three—Chapter Twenty Four.
Out of the Shadow.
Hartley Salis found that his words were correct.
He was too late!
He learned that “a gentleman,” as the people at the hotel called him, had been staying at the hotel, that a lady, evidently Leo, had come in by the early train, and that they had gone.
“Heaven only knows where, Mary, dear,” said Salis a week later, as he lay upon the couch, utterly worn out with his efforts to trace the fugitives. “I am broken down. Thank God, dear, I am once more at home. And you?”
“My dearest brother,” she said tenderly, as she knelt beside him and laid her hand upon his burning brow.
“Ah, that’s cool and pleasant,” he sighed, with his eyes closed. “Tell me about North—more than your letters said.”
“He is better—much better,” said Mary, with an eagerness she made no attempt to conceal.
“Yes,” said Salis wearily; “so Mr Delton said.”