Again Sir Norman was staggered by the frank, bold gaze and truthful voice, but still the string was in a tangle somewhere.
“And where have you been ever since?” he began severely, and with the air of a lawyer about to go into a rigid cross-examination.
“Searching for her,” was the prompt reply.
“Where?”
“Through the streets; in the pest-houses, and at the plague-pit.”
“How did you find out she lived here?”
“I did not find it out. When I became convinced she was in none of the places I have mentioned, I gave up the search in despair, for to-night, and was returning to his lordship to report my ill success.”
“Why, then, were you standing in front of her house, gaping at it with all the eyes in your head, as if it were the eighth wonder of the world?”
“Monsieur has not the most courteous way of asking questions, that I ever heard of; but I have no particular objection to answer him. It struck me that, as Mr. Ormiston brought the lady up this way, and as I saw you and he haunting this place so much to-night, I thought her residence was somewhere here, and I paused to look at the house as I went along. In fact, I intended to ask old sleepy-head, over there, for further particulars, before I left the neighborhood, had not you, Sir Norman, run bolt into me, and knocked every idea clean out of my head.”
“And you are sure you are not Leoline?” said Sir Norman, suspiciously.