The room was as empty as the others.

But there was no disorder here.

The bed was unused, the garments in the open closet had not been disarranged.

On the floor beside the bed was a pair of shoes and as Nathaniel saw them his heart seemed to leap to his throat and stifled the cry that was on his lips.
He took one of them in his hand, his whole being throbbing with excitement.

It was Marion's shoe--encrusted with mud and torn as he had seen it in the forest.