If so, Sisily must have left Flint House shortly before her aunt's arrival to catch the returning wagonette at the cross-roads where the young woman was seen waiting by Peter Portgartha.
But that plausibly conceived itinerary of events needed the support of proof, and there Barrant found himself in difficulty.
The morning's enquiries made it manifest that Sisily had left Penzance by the mid-day train on the previous day.

After leaving Mrs.Pendleton, Barrant had gone to the station.

The sour and elderly ticket-clerk on duty could give him no information, but let it be understood that there was another clerk selling tickets for the mid-day train, which was unusually crowded by farmers going to Redruth.

The other clerk, seen in the morning, had no difficulty in recalling the young lady of Barrant's description.
She was pretty and slight and dark, with a pale clear complexion, and she carried a small handbag.

She asked for a ticket to London.