Having penetrated to that extent the secret which Geoffrey was concealing from him, he abandoned the hope of making any further advance at that present sitting.

The next question to clear up in the investigation, was the question of who the anonymous "lady" might be.

And the next discovery to make was, whether "the lady" could, or could not, be identified with Anne Silvester.

Pending the inevitable delay in reaching that result, the straight course was (in Sir Patrick's present state of uncertainty) the only course to follow in laying down the law.

He at once took the question of the marriage in hand--with no concealment whatever, as to the legal bearings of it, from the client who was consulting him.
"Don't rush to conclusions, Mr.Delamayn," he said.