The hour wore on, and the early dusk of the gathering evening fell around the reunited lovers. Lally started at last, crying out:
“How dark it grows! It must be five o’clock, and Mrs. Peters will be distracted about me. I don’t know as it is just etiquette, Rufus, but the circumstances are peculiar, and I don’t believe that Mrs. Grundy has laid down any rule to fit the precise case, and the situation is so remote, and I don’t believe anybody will know or care; and so—and so I’ll invite you to remain to dine with me. But at an early hour—by ten o’clock, mind!—you must start for Inverness.”
“And you will meet me there at eleven o’clock in the morning, at the kirk, little wife?”
“Yes,” said Lally solemnly, and with a holy joy in her black eyes, “I will be there! Who shall part us now, Rufus?”
CHAPTER XX.
AN UNTIMELY ARRIVAL.
In the early dawn of a gray wild morning, Sir Harold Wynde, Lord Towyn, and Mr. Atkins arrived at Inverness. They proceeded directly to the Railway Hotel, and secured bedrooms and sitting-room, and ordered breakfast. Some attention to their toilet was necessary, and after baths and vigorous brushing, they met in their sitting-room, and here a very tempting Scottish breakfast was served to them.
They were still lingering at the table, discussing their future movements, when a knock was heard at the door, and the detective who had been set to watch Rufus Black entered the room.
He was a thin, small man, with a sharp business face, and looked the very ideal of a keen commercial traveler, and Sir Harold for the moment supposed that such was his vocation, and that the man had strayed into the wrong room. This impression was speedily corrected.
“Good-morning, my lord,” said the officer, addressing himself to the young earl. “Expected your lordship up yesterday. Good-morning, Mr. Atkins. Fine morning, sir—for Scotland. My lord, can I see you alone for a few minutes?”
“Say what you have to say here, Ryan,” said the young earl. “Mr. Atkins is a fellow-guardian of the young lady of whom we are in search, and this gentleman, Mr. Hunlow, is also a friend of Miss Wynde. Speak out, therefore. Have you any news?”