She was on the point of rising and running across to the ruins, to follow him into the depths, when he appeared again. He came slowly forth, turned and closed the stone door and leaned against it, his head on his arm, a picture of tragic despair.

She stopped and sank down on her knees, the better to escape observation, and presently he walked slowly away, and it was the gait of a broken man.

47

Hurrying back the way she had come, she joined Mary in the study. Puttler she had not seen since the early morning, when he cycled to Willow House to bring the notice he had found.

“My dear,” said Mary, “I’m not so sure I shall stay here tonight. This place is full of shocks! I’d like to see your brother very much indeed, but you can tell him all about the room under the abbey, can’t you? That’s where the gold is – you mark my words!”

“The gold?” Leslie for a moment did not understand. “Oh, you mean the Chelford treasure?”

The horrible thing! It was behind all this misery; behind the killing of Thomas and the disappearance of Harry. She said as much, and Miss Wenner, not pausing in her typewriting, calmly expressed the view that it was very likely.

Shock followed shock indeed! At half past four Leslie’s maid brought a letter which had come by special delivery. It was in Arthur’s writing; she tore it open and read:

Dear Leslie,

You are under no circumstances to marry Gilder. I refuse to allow you to sacrifice yourself for me, now or at any time. I am going away to France for a few months, and will return when things have blown over.

Ordinarily quick-witted, it was a long time before Leslie could understand the significance of this message. When she did, she took the letter to Dick, and he read it without comment and handed it back to her.

“What does that mean, Dick?”

“It means that Arthur has taken the line of least resistance,” he said. “To put it vulgarly, he has bolted!”

Her heart sank, and in that moment she felt terribly alone. As if he read her thoughts, he went on: “He has certainly precipitated the crisis, but I don’t see exactly how it will affect you. There was nothing else in the letter?”

She shook her head and opened the envelope, and then saw a slip of paper which she had overlooked. It was an authority to sell his business, drawn up in legal form, and had evidently been added as an afterthought.

“If there are no further defalcations, that ought to be worth something,” said Dick. “I’ll see what I can do.”

But on this point she was firm.

“I think you’ve enough trouble without mine,” she said quietly. “Did you find anything in the ruins?”

He started.