Had she ordered it
herself from a stable in some distant portion of the city for the
purpose of concealing her whereabouts, or had it been ordered for her
by her maid, and was she really the victim of foul play? I put this
question to Mr. Royce, but he seemed quite unable to reach a
conclusion. As for myself, I was certain that she had gone away of her
own accord, and had deliberately planned her disappearance. Why? Well,
I began to suspect that we had not yet really touched the bottom of
the mystery.
We drove back to the office, and found Mr. Graham there. I related to
him the circumstances of our search, and submitted to him and to our
junior one question for immediate settlement.
"At the best, it's a delicate case," I pointed out. "Miss Holladay has
plainly laid her plans very carefully to prevent us following her. It
may be difficult to prove that she has not gone away entirely of her
own accord. She certainly has a perfect right to go wherever she
wishes without consulting us. Have we the right to follow her against
her evident desire?"
For a moment Mr. Graham did not answer, but sat tapping his desk with
that deep line of perplexity between his eyebrows. Then he nodded
emphatically.
"It's our duty to follow her and find her," he said. "It's perfectly
evident to me that no girl in her right mind would act as she has
done.
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