For two nights after that Alec Trenholme kept his lamp lit all night, placing it in his window so that all the light that could struggle through the frosted panes should cast an inviting ray into the night.

He did this in the hope that the old man might still be wandering in the neighbourhood; but it was soon ascertained that this was not the case; the stranger had been seen by no one else in Turrifs Settlement.

Though it was clear, from reports that came, that he was the same who had visited other villages and been accepted as the missing Cameron, nothing more was heard of him, and it seemed that he had gone now off the lines of regular communication--unless, indeed, he had the power of appearing and disappearing at will, which was the popular view of his case.
Turrifs Station had become notorious.

Trenholme received jeers and gibes even by telegraph from neighbouring stations.

He had given account to no one of the midnight visit, but inventive curiosity had supplied details of a truly wonderful nature.