"No. Why?" she asked.
"Because Mr. Boyne hasn't been home all night," was her aunt's reply. "I can't think what's happened to him! When I went up this morning to wake him, because I thought he had overslept himself, I found that his bed had not been slept in!"
CHAPTER XVII
"NEWS" FROM LANCASTER GATE
Marigold was naturally much puzzled.
What had her lover discovered? What did he know?
By the varying forms of the telegrams she saw that he had excused himself from the office upon a plea of illness, while really he was working in secret to elucidate the mystery of the hooded man of Hammersmith.
The fact that Boyne had been absent that night and had not yet returned, did not arouse her curiosity, for she concluded that Gerry had been following him ever since the previous evening.
She relied upon her lover's cleverness and ingenuity. The changing of his clothes showed her that he was resourceful. She admired him for it.
So she took her tea with her aunt, and afterwards laid Mr. Boyne's table in eager readiness for his return.