On returning they found her - where do you think?"
"Where?"
"Gone!" said Sir Norman emphatically, "spirited away by some
mysterious agency; for she was dying of the plague, and could not
possibly stir hand or foot herself."
"Dying of the plague, O Leoline!" said the stranger, in a voice
full of pity and horror, while for a moment he covered his face
with his hands.
"So her name is Leoline?" said Sir Norman to himself. "I have
found that out, and also that this gentleman, whatever he may be
to her, is as ignorant of her whereabouts as I am myself. He
seems in trouble, too. I wonder if he really happens to be her
husband?"
The stranger suddenly lifted his head and favored Sir Norman with
a long and searching look.
"How come you to know all this, Sir Norman Kingsley," he asked
abruptly.
"And how come you to know my name?" demanded Sir Norman, very
much amazed, notwithstanding his assertion that nothing would
astonish him more.
"That is of no consequence! Tell me how you've learned all
this?" repeated the stranger, in a tone of almost stern
authority.
Sir Norman started and stared. That voice I have had heard it a
thousand times! It had evidently been disguised before; but now,
in the excitement of the moment, the stranger was thrown off his
guard, and it became perfectly familiar.
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