It was only necessary to add, that Mrs. Glenarm had left the neighborhood of Perth, in order to escape further annoyance; and had placed herself under the protection of friends in another part of the county.  Mr. Geoffrey Delamayn, whose fair fame had been assailed (it was needless, the correspondent added in parenthesis, to say how groundlessly), was understood to have expressed, not only the indignation natural under the circumstances but also his extreme regret at not finding himself in a position to aid Captain Newenden’s efforts to bring the anonymous slanderer to justice.  The honorable gentleman was, as the sporting public were well aware, then in course of strict training for his forthcoming appearance at the Fulham Foot-Race.  So important was it considered that his mind should not be harassed by annoyances, in his present responsible position, that his trainer and his principal backers had thought it desirable to hasten his removal to the neighborhood of Fulham—­where the exercises which were to prepare him for the race were now being continued on the spot.

“The mystery seems to thicken,” said Arnold.

“Quite the contrary,” returned Sir Patrick, briskly.  “The mystery is clearing fast—­thanks to the Glasgow newspaper.  I shall be spared the trouble of dealing with Bishopriggs for the stolen letter.  Miss Silvester has gone to Perth, to recover her correspondence with Geoffrey Delamayn.”

“Do you think she would recognize it,” said Arnold, pointing to the newspaper, “in the account given of it here?”

“Certainly!  And she could hardly fail, in my opinion, to get a step farther than that.  Unless I am entirely mistaken, the authorship of the anonymous letters has not mystified her.”

“How could she guess at that?”

“In this way, as I think.  Whatever she may have previously thought, she must suspect, by this time, that the missing correspondence has been stolen, and not lost.  Now, there are only two persons whom she can think of, as probably guilty of the theft—­Mrs. Inchbare or Bishopriggs.  The newspaper description of the style of the anonymous letters declares it to be the style of a Scotchman in the lower ranks of life—­in other words, points plainly to Bishopriggs.  You see that?  Very well.  Now suppose she recovers the stolen property.  What is likely to happen then?  She will be more or less than woman if she doesn’t make her way next, provided with her proofs in writing, to Mrs. Glenarm.  She may innocently help, or she may innocently frustrate, the end we have in view—­either way, our course is clear before us again.  Our interest in communicating with Miss Silvester remains precisely the same interest that it was before we received the Glasgow newspaper.  I propose to wait till Sunday, on the chance that Mr. Crum may write again.  If we don’t hear from him, I shall start for Scotland on Monday morning, and take my chance of finding my way to Miss Silvester, through Mrs. Glenarm.”