It is generally thought that Mrs.Holbrook has fallen a victim to some common crime--that she was robbed, and then thrown into the river." "The river has been dragged, I suppose ?" "It has; but the people about there seem to consider that no conclusive test." "Had Mrs.Holbrook anything valuable about her at the time of her disappearance ?" "Her watch and chain and a few other trinkets." "Humph! There are scoundrels about the country who will commit the darkest crime for the smallest inducement.

I confess the business has rather a black look, Mr.Fenton, and that I am inclined to concur with the country people." "An easy way of settling the question for those not vitally interested in the lady's fate," Gilbert answered bitterly.
"The lady is my client, sir, and I am bound to feel a warm interest in her affairs," the lawyer said, with the lofty tone of a man whose finer feelings have been outraged.
"The lady was once my promised wife, Mr.Medler," returned Gilbert, "and now stands to me in the place of a beloved and only sister.

For me the mystery of her fate is an all-absorbing question, an enigma to the solution of which I mean to devote the rest of my life, if need be." "A wasted life, Mr.Fenton; and in the meantime that river down yonder may hide the only secret." "O God!" cried Gilbert passionately, "how eager every one is to make an end of this business! Even the men whom I paid and bribed to help me grew tired of their work, and abandoned all hope after the feeblest, most miserable attempts to earn their reward." "What can be done in such a case, Mr.Fenton ?" demanded the lawyer, shrugging his shoulders with a deprecating air.

"What can the police do more than you or I?
They have only a little more experience, that's all; they have no recondite means of solving these social mysteries.

You have advertised, of course ?" "Yes, in many channels, with a certain amount of caution, but in such a manner as to insure Mrs.Holbrook's identification, if she had fallen into the hands of any one willing to communicate with me, and to insure her own attention, were she free to act for herself." "Humph! Then it seems to me that everything has been done that can be done." "Not yet.