He walked on sharply through the crisp autumn air, and in other circumstances would have found the walk agreeable enough.  It was a little curious that as he proceeded on his way his chief preoccupation seemed to shift from his immediate errand and intense eagerness to discover the identity of his unknown foe, with whom he hoped to stand face to face so soon, to a troubled and pressing anxiety about Ella.

Up till now he had not thought it likely that she was in the least real danger.  He knew Simmonds, the man Walter had promised to put on watch at Bittermeads, and knew him to be capable and trustworthy.  None the less, his uneasiness grew and strengthened with every mile he traversed, till presently her situation seemed to him the one weak link in his careful plans.

That the trap the unknown had so carefully laid for himself to be taken in, would assuredly and securely close upon him, Dunn felt certain enough.  Walter would see to that.  Sure was it, too, that the enterprise Deede Dawson had planned for himself and Allen at the Abbey must result in their discomfiture and capture.  Walter would see to that also.  But concerning Ella’s position doubt would insist on intruding, till at last he decided that the very moment the Brook Bourne Spring business was satisfactorily finished with he would hurry at his best speed to Bittermeads and make sure of her safety.

Absorbed in these uneasy thoughts, he had insensibly slackened speed, and looking at his watch he saw that it was two o’clock, and that he was still, by the milestone at the roadside, eight miles from his destination.

He wished to be there a little before the time arranged for him by Deede Dawson, and he increased his pace till he came to a spot where the path he had to take branched off from the road he had been following.  At this spot a heavy country lad was sitting on a gate by the wayside, and as Dunn approached he clambered heavily down and slouched forward to meet him.

“Be you called Robert Dunn, mister?” he asked.

Dunn gave him a quick and suspicious look, much startled by this sudden recognition in so lonely a spot.

“Yes, I am,” he said, after a moment’s hesitation.  “Why?”

“If you are, there’s this as I’m to give you,” the lad answered, drawing a note from his pocket.

“Oh, who gave you that?” Dunn asked, fully persuaded the note contained some final instructions from Deede Dawson and wondering if this lad were one of his agents in disguise, or merely some inhabitant of the district hired for the one purpose of delivering the letter.

But the lad’s drawled reply disconcerted him greatly.

“A lady,” he said.  “A real lady in a big car, she told me to wait here and give you this.  All alone she was, and drove just like a man.”

He handed the letter over as he spoke, and Dunn saw that it was addressed to him in his name of Robert Dunn in Ella’s writing.  He blinked at it in very great surprise, for there was nothing he expected less, and he did not understand how she knew so well where he would be or how she had managed to get away from Bittermeads uninterfered with by Deede Dawson.