CHAPTER XX.
At the time appointed for their next meeting, Hilliard waited in vain.
An hour passed, and Eve, who had the uncommon virtue of punctuality, still did not come.

The weather was miserable--rain, fog, and slush--but this had heretofore proved no obstacle, for her lodgings were situated less than half a mile away.

Afraid of missing her if he went out, he fretted through another hour, and was at length relieved by the arrival of a letter of explanation.

Eve wrote that she had been summoned to Dudley; her father was stricken with alarming illness, and her brother had telegraphed.
For two days he heard nothing; then came a few lines which told him that Mr.Madeley could not live many more hours.

On the morrow Eve wrote that her father was dead.
To the letter which he thereupon despatched Hilliard had no reply for nearly a week.