’As to that, I am not able to give an authoritative opinion, but, if I understand you aright, it at least is possible.  Anyhow I am disposed to think that he sent Miss Lindon after the man Holt, taking it for granted that he had eluded you.—­’

‘That’s it.  Write me down an ass again!’

‘That he did elude you, you have yourself admitted.’

’That’s because I stopped talking with that mutton-headed bobby,—­ I’d have followed the man to the ends of the earth if it hadn’t been for that.’

’Precisely; the reason is immaterial, it is the fact with which we are immediately concerned.  He did elude you.  And I think you will find that Miss Lindon and Mr Holt are together at this moment.’

‘In men’s clothing?’

’Both in men’s clothing, or, rather, Miss Lindon is in a man’s rags.’

‘Great Potiphar!  To think of Marjorie like that!’

‘And where they are, the Arab is not very far off either.’

Lessingham caught me by the arm.

’And what diabolical mischief do you imagine that he proposes to do to her?’

I shirked the question.

‘Whatever it is, it is our business to prevent his doing it.’

‘And where do you think they have been taken?’

’That it will be our immediate business to endeavour to discover, —­and here, at any rate, we are at Waterloo.’

CHAPTER XLII

THE QUARRY DOUBLES

I turned towards the booking-office on the main departure platform.  As I went, the chief platform inspector, George Bellingham, with whom I had some acquaintance, came out of his office.  I stopped him.

’Mr Bellingham, will you be so good as to step with me to the booking-office, and instruct the clerk in charge to answer one or two questions which I wish to put to him.  I will explain to you afterwards what is their exact import, but you know me sufficiently to be able to believe me when I say that they refer to a matter in which every moment is of the first importance.’

He turned and accompanied us into the interior of the booking-case.

’To which of the clerks, Mr Champnell, do you wish to put your questions?’

‘To the one who issues third-class tickets to Southampton.’

Bellingham beckoned to a man who was counting a heap of money, and apparently seeking to make it tally with the entries in a huge ledger which lay open before him,—­he was a short, slightly-built young fellow, with a pleasant face and smiling eyes.

‘Mr Stone, this gentleman wishes to ask you one or two questions.’

‘I am at his service.’

I put my questions.

’I want to know, Mr Stone, if, in the course of the day, you have issued any tickets to a person dressed in Arab costume?’

His reply was prompt.

‘I have—­by the last train, the 7.25,—­three singles.’