‘Troost to mae, troost to mae, Mr. Gilfil.  Eh! but I’d ha’ worked for day-wage all the rest o’ my life, rether than anythin’ should ha’ happened to her.’

The good gardener, in deep distress, strode away to the stables that he might send the grooms on horseback through the park.

Mr. Gilfil’s next thought was to search the Rookery:  she might be haunting the scene of Captain Wybrow’s death.  He went hastily over every mound, looked round every large tree, and followed every winding of the walks.  In reality he had little hope of finding her there; but the bare possibility fenced off for a time the fatal conviction that Caterina’s body would be found in the water.  When the Rookery had been searched in vain, he walked fast to the border of the little stream that bounded one side of the grounds.  The stream was almost everywhere hidden among trees, and there was one place where it was broader and deeper than elsewhere—­she would be more likely to come to that spot than to the pool.  He hurried along with strained eyes, his imagination continually creating what he dreaded to see.

There is something white behind that overhanging bough.  His knees tremble under him.  He seems to see part of her dress caught on a branch, and her dear dead face upturned.  O God, give strength to thy creature, on whom thou hast laid this great agony!  He is nearly up to the bough, and the white object is moving.  It is a waterfowl, that spreads its wings and flies away screaming.  He hardly knows whether it is a relief or a disappointment that she is not there.  The conviction that she is dead presses its cold weight upon him none the less heavily.

As he reached the great pool in front of the Manor, he saw Mr. Bates, with a group of men already there, preparing for the dreadful search which could only displace his vague despair by a definite horror; for the gardener, in his restless anxiety, had been unable to defer this until other means of search had proved vain.  The pool was not now laughing with sparkles among the water-lilies.  It looked black and cruel under the sombre sky, as if its cold depths held relentlessly all the murdered hope and joy of Maynard Gilfil’s life.

Thoughts of the sad consequences for others as well as himself were crowding on his mind.  The blinds and shutters were all closed in front of the Manor, and it was not likely that Sir Christopher would be aware of anything that was passing outside; but Mr. Gilfil felt that Caterina’s disappearance could not long be concealed from him.  The coroner’s inquest would be held shortly; she would be inquired for, and then it would be inevitable that the Baronet should know all.

Chapter 18

At twelve o’clock, when all search and inquiry had been in vain, and the coroner was expected every moment, Mr. Gilfil could no longer defer the hard duty of revealing this fresh calamity to Sir Christopher, who must otherwise have it discovered to him abruptly.