"Did he say anything about where he was going to?"
"Not to me. I know nothing, it's only what I surmise, but he went hurrying out as if he had an appointment which he wanted to keep."
"An appointment? Something over an hour ago? Yes, he had an appointment about that time, but he never kept it." Franklyn looked at his watch. The thirty minutes of which he had spoken to Miss Strong were already nearly past. "Can I have a bed here to-night?"
The clerk said that he could. Franklyn took a card out of his pocket-book. He scribbled on it in pencil--
"I shall be at Medina Villas till eleven. Come at once. They are very anxious to have news of you."
Securing it in an envelope, he handed it to the clerk, instructing him, should Mr. Paxton return before he did, to let him have it at once. Then Mr. Franklyn left the hotel, meaning to walk to the cab rank, which was distant only a few yards, and then drive straight back to Medina Villas.
As he walked along the broad pavement some one stopping him, addressed him by name.
"Is that you, Mr. Franklyn?"
The speaker was John Ireland. In his professional capacity as a solicitor Mr. Franklyn had encountered the detective on more than one occasion. The detective's next question took Mr. Franklyn a little by surprise.
"Where's Mr. Paxton?"