Swiftly, lightly Gilbert Warrington sprung from the box and rushed wildly around to the door of the vehicle. It was open, and the bird was flown!
With an outburst of angry oaths which there was no one to hear, Gilbert Warrington searched the interior of the carriage. She could not possibly be concealed within, yet the very thought that she must have made her escape from the vehicle, tearing along at the mad pace at which he had been driving, seemed incredible, absolutely incredible.
Having searched carefully, and having satisfied himself at last that she was not inside the carriage, the discomfitted villain closed and fastened its door, and then, taking the reins in his hands, proceeded to lead the horses and carriage back in the road that he had come. It would be slow progress, but it was necessary, for he meant to search every foot of the way back to the spot where he had so precipitately revealed himself to Rosamond (what a fool he had been, to be sure!), and even back to The Oaks, should no trace of the missing woman be discovered.
But all in vain did he seek her; dead or alive, there was no trace of Rosamond Arleigh to be found. It looked like magic or witchcraft.
He strode along the road, peering anxiously into every corner, leading the horses—quite subdued now—and leaving nothing undone in his anxious search. But all in vain; he could see nothing, hear nothing that could in any way furnish a clew to her mysterious disappearance.
He would have believed her dead, that in her escape from the fast-moving vehicle she had been instantly killed; but there was no trace of her at all to be found.
Slowly and thoughtfully he led the carriage over the bridge which spanned the brawling stream where the poor woman had really made her escape. His keen eyes fell upon the bank, the steep descent with its dislodged earth, and the débris which had rolled downward to the stream below. An exclamation of astonishment, of surprise and horror, passed his lips. He checked the horses, and tying them to a tree near by, began a patient search. Here was the trace of a falling body which must have rushed with great velocity down to the stream below.
Gilbert Warrington’s eyes wandered to the swift, black water, and a quick solution of the mysterious disappearance crossed his mind.
“So!” he muttered sharply between his teeth; “she has attempted to escape here. There is really no other place where there is any indication of such a thing having happened. It is quite likely that she fell down the bank to the stream below. And, by Jove!” coming to a sudden halt as his eyes fell upon a dark object which floated upon the bosom of the brawling stream, “there is her cloak now!”
A swift descent; a moment later he held the dripping garment in his hand.