Treachery, blackest treachery somewhere.

He had questioned Sir David, and had received his positive assurance that this man Holbrook was unknown to him; and now, against that there was the fact that the baronet was the owner of a place in Hampshire, to be taken in conjunction with that other fact that a place in Hampshire had been lent to Mr.Holbrook by a friend.

At the very first he had been inclined to believe that Marian's lover must needs be one of the worthless bachelor crew with which the baronet was accustomed to surround himself.

He had only abandoned that notion after his interview with Sir David Forster; and now it seemed that the baronet had deliberately lied to him.

It was, of course, just possible that he was on a false scent after all, and that it was to some other part of the country Mr.Holbrook had brought his bride; but such a coincidence seemed, at the least, highly improbable.