On the next day Harry Annesley left London and went down to Buston, having heard no word farther about the captain.  He did not start till late in the afternoon, and during the day took some trouble to make himself conspicuous about the town; but he heard nothing of Captain Scarborough.  Twice he walked along Charles Street, and looked at the spot on which he had stood on the night before in what might have been deadly conflict.  Then he told himself that he had not been in the least wounded, that the ferocious maddened man had attempted to do no more than shake him, that his coat had suffered and not himself, and that in return he had certainly struck the captain with all his violence.  There were probably some regrets, but he said not a word on the subject to any one, and so he left London.

For three or four days nothing was heard of the captain, nor was anything said about him.  He had lodgings in town, at which he was no doubt missed, but he also had quarters at the barracks, at which he did not often sleep, but to which it was thought possible on the next morning that he might have betaken himself.  Before the evening of that day had come he had no doubt been missed, but in the world at large no special mention was made of his absence for some time.  Then, among the haunts which he was known to frequent, questions began to be asked as to his whereabouts, and to be answered by doubtful assertions that nothing had been seen or heard of him for the last sixty or seventy hours.

It must be remembered that at this time Captain Scarborough was still the subject of universal remark, because of the story told as to his birth.  His father had declared him to be illegitimate, and had thereby robbed all his creditors.  Captain Scarborough was a man quite remarkable enough to insure universal attention for such a tale as this; but now, added to his illegitimacy was his disappearance.  There was at first no idea that he had been murdered.  It became quickly known to all the world that he had, on the night in question, lost a large sum of money at a whist-club which he frequented, and, in accordance with the custom of the club, had not paid the money on the spot.

The fatal Monday had come round, and the money undoubtedly was not paid.  Then he was declared a defaulter, and in due process of time his name was struck off the club books, with some serious increase of the ignominy hitherto sustained.

During the last fortnight or more Captain Scarborough’s name had been subjected to many remarks and to much disgrace.  But this non-payment of the money lost at whist was considered to be the turning-point.  A man might be declared illegitimate, and might in consequence of that or any other circumstance defraud all his creditors.  A man might conspire with his father with the object of doing this fraudulently, as Captain Scarborough was no doubt thought to have done by most of his acquaintances.  All this he might do and not become so degraded but that his friends would talk to him and play cards with him.  But to have sat down to a whist-table and not be able to pay the stakes was held to be so foul a disgrace that men did not wonder that he should have disappeared.