CHAPTER X.
JACOB NOWELL.
The days went by, and brought Gilbert Fenton no reply to his advertisement.

He called at the post-office morning and evening, only to find the same result; and a dull blank feeling, a kind of deadness of heart and mind, began to steal over him with the progress of the days.
He went through the routine of his business-life steadily enough, working as hard as he had ever worked; but it was only by a supreme effort that he could bring his mind to bear upon the details of business--all interest in his office-work was gone.
The advertisement had appeared for the sixth time, and Gilbert had framed a second, offering a reward of twenty pounds for any direct evidence of the marriage of Marian Nowell; when a letter was handed to him one evening at the post-office--a letter in a common blue envelope, directed in a curious crabbed hand, and bearing the London post-mark.
His heart beat loud and fast as he tore open this envelope It contained only a half-sheet of paper, with these words written upon it in the cramped half-illegible hand which figured on the outside: "The person advertising for Marian Nowell is requested to call at No.

5, Queen Anne's Court, Wardour Street, any evening after seven." This was all.

Little as this brief note implied, however, Gilbert made sure that the writer must be in a position to give him some kind of information about the object of his search.

It was six o'clock when he received the communication.