She believes him to be in this country, and only waiting the right moment to turn up.

Oh, it sounds ridiculous, I know, in Britain in the twentieth century, but I learned in the war that civilization anywhere is a very thin crust.
There are a hundred ways by which that kind of fellow could bamboozle all our law and police and spirit her away.

That's the kind of crowd we have to face." "Did she say what he was like in appearance ?" "A face like an angel--a lost angel, she says." Dickson suddenly had an inspiration.
"D'you mind the man you said was an Australian--at Kirkmichael?
I thought myself he was a foreigner.

Well, he was asking for a place he called Darkwater, and there's no sich place in the countryside.

I believe he meant Dalquharter.