So Tom came and went as usual, and in no wise altered the mode of his daily life. But, after a time, he became conscious that not only he himself, but the inmates of Alder Cottage, had been placed under police surveillance.
Wherever he went his footsteps were dogged—not offensively, but cautiously, respectfully, and at a distance. The cottage, too, was, so to speak, surrounded with spies.
This gave Tom some anxiety. It seemed to show that the suspicions of Messrs. Whiffins and Drayton were beginning to concentrate themselves nearer home. And to a certain extent he was right. After slow and painful cogitation, and not till more than three weeks after the escape, Mr. Drayton arrived at the conclusion that it was just possible that Mr. Dering might never have attempted to go abroad at all, or even to get as far as London, but might be snugly hidden somewhere close at hand. And if so—where?
The result of this question was the watching by day and night of Alder Cottage, and of the comings and goings of its inmates.
A week passed away and Mr. Drayton began to despair. His men had absolutely nothing to report, except that the ladies went out occasionally for a short walk; that Martha Vince, the servant, went out every morning to make the needful domestic purchases; and that Mr. Bristow called every other day and was the only visitor at the cottage.
Mr. Drayton was seriously considering as to the advisability of withdrawing his men, when one of them brought him a piece of information which startled him considerably. This man, Tidey by name, had been on watch in a clump of trees a short distance from the cottage, when, so he averred, he saw a corner of one of the blinds drawn on one side, and a man’s face peer out along the road, as if expecting some one. Tidey was positive that it was a man’s face. He was equally certain it was not the face of Mr. Bristow, which was well known to him by sight. That it could not be Mr. Bristow was proved in another way, by another man, who had seen that gentleman leave the cottage only two hours previously.
Mr. Drayton decided to strike while the iron was hot. He went at once to Colonel Chumley, one of the magistrates—he would not go to Sir Harry Cripps again, who, indeed, happened not to be sitting that day—and having deposed to his belief that Lionel Dering was at that moment hiding at Alder Cottage, he at once obtained the requisite warrant, authorizing him to search the premises in question.
Half an hour later, followed by four picked men in plain clothes, Mr. Drayton set out for the cottage.
CHAPTER V.
HIDE AND SEEK
When Lionel Dering found himself safe inside Alder Cottage, with his wife’s arms around his neck, the door locked behind him, and no sounds of pursuit in the distance, he broke down utterly, and, big, strong man though he was, he cried like a child.