"D— I mean confound it!" said Bob. He went to Plant's.
"Mr. Plant went to Spilsborough in a great hurry this afternoon, sir," said Plant's landlady. The American millionaire still lived in Bloomsbury, though not on ten shillings a week.
"Oh," said Bob, "I wonder what this means. There's a secret here!"
He drove in a hansom to find Bramber. A very ingenuous piece of humanity in buttons told Bob that Lord Bramber came in about four o'clock torn to ribbons, and found a telegram waiting him.
"And off he went in his motor-car."
"Where?" asked Bob.
"I don't know," said the buttons. But on Bob's going to Bramber's room, he found the ABC open on the table at the page with Spilsborough on it.
"Sherlock Holmes would say he has gone to Spilsborough," cried Bob. "And if Gordon and Plant have gone there, too, I'll bet all the rest have gone. I'll go, too."
But there was no train for three hours!
"I'm done," said Bob, "No, I'm not. I'll hire a motor-car."