“Had he any thing about him of the look and way of a sailor?” she asked.  “And did you notice, when you spoke to him, that he had a habit of playing with a locket on his watch-chain?”

“There he is, het aff to a T!” cried Mrs. Inchbare.  “Yer leddyship’s weel acquented wi’ him—­there’s nae doot o’ that.”

“I thought I had seen him,” said Lady Lundie.  “A modest, well-behaved young man, Mrs. Inchbare, as you say.  Don’t let me keep you any longer from the poultry-yard.  I am transgressing the doctor’s orders in seeing any body.  We quite understand each other now, don’t we?  Very glad to have seen you.  Good-evening.”

So she dismissed Mrs. Inchbare, when Mrs. Inchbare had served her purpose.

Most women, in her position, would have been content with the information which she had now obtained.  But Lady Lundie—­having a man like Sir Patrick to deal with—­determined to be doubly sure of her facts before she ventured on interfering at Ham Farm.  She had learned from Mrs. Inchbare that the so-called husband of Anne Silvester had joined her at Craig Fernie on the day when she arrived at the inn, and had left her again the next morning.  Anne had made her escape from Windygates on the occasion of the lawn-party—­that is to say, on the fourteenth of August.  On the same day Arnold Brinkworth had taken his departure for the purpose of visiting the Scotch property left to him by his aunt.  If Mrs. Inchbare was to be depended on, he must have gone to Craig Fernie instead of going to his appointed destination—­and must, therefore, have arrived to visit his house and lands one day later than the day which he had originally set apart for that purpose.  If this fact could be proved, on the testimony of a disinterested witness, the case against Arnold would be strengthened tenfold; and Lady Lundie might act on her discovery with something like a certainty that her information was to be relied on.

After a little consideration she decided on sending a messenger with a note of inquiry addressed to Arnold’s steward.  The apology she invented to excuse and account for the strangeness of the proposed question, referred it to a little family discussion as to the exact date of Arnold’s arrival at his estate, and to a friendly wager in which the difference of opinion had ended.  If the steward could state whether his employer had arrived on the fourteenth or on the fifteenth of August, that was all that would be wanted to decide the question in dispute.

Having written in those terms, Lady Lundie gave the necessary directions for having the note delivered at the earliest possible hour on the next morning; the messenger being ordered to make his way back to Windygates by the first return train on the same day.

This arranged, her ladyship was free to refresh herself with another dose of the red lavender draught, and to sleep the sleep of the just who close their eyes with the composing conviction that they have done their duty.