"To-morrow night, at ten precisely," was the reply.
"Do you know the man who brought you this message? or have you received a letter?" asked Ellen, who now began to breathe more freely.
"No, I never saw the man before; nor have I any letter. But, surely, you cannot suppose that any one is deceiving me in so cruel a manner?"
"I feel convinced of it," said Ellen, with peculiar emphasis on her words and warmth in her manner.
"No—no—impossible!" cried Markham, unwilling to allow the hope which had a moment ago appeared so bright, to be obscured by the mists of doubt: then, acting upon a sudden impulse, he rang the bell violently.
Whittingham speedily made his appearance.
"The man that I have just sent below," said Richard, hastily, "has come to inform me that my brother is in London—"
"Mister Eugene in London!" ejaculated the old butler, forgetting his gravity, and literally beginning to dance with joy.
"And he has appointed to meet me to-morrow evening in a very distant and lonely part of London," continued Markham. "This circumstance seems suspicious—strange;—at least so Miss Monroe thinks—"
"Nay—I do not think, Richard: I am sure," exclaimed Ellen, with the same emphasis which had marked her previous declaration.