'MY DEAR MADAME,
'Be so good as to take the half-past eight o'clock train to Dover to-night. Beds are prepared.—Yours very truly,
SILAS RUTHYN.'
I cannot say what it was in this short advice that struck me with fear. Was it the thick line beneath the word 'Dover,' that was so uncalled for, and gave me a faint but terrible sense of something preconcerted?
I said to Madame—
'Why is "Dover" underlined?'
'I do not know, little fool, no more than you. How can I tell what is passing in your oncle's head when he make that a mark?'
'Has it not a meaning, Madame?'
'How can you talk like that?' she answered, more in her old way. 'You are either mocking of me, or you are becoming truly a fool!'
She rang the bell, called for our bill, saw our hostess; while I made a few hasty prepartions in my room.