The first which Lady Lundie had received to that question yet.

She eagerly went on to the next inquiry.
"Have you seen her since she left the house ?" A third affirmative reply.
"Where ?" Hester Dethridge wrote slowly on the slate, in singularly firm upright characters for a woman in her position of life, these words: "On the road that leads to the railway.

Nigh to Mistress Chew's Farm." "What did you want at Chew's Farm ?" Hester Dethridge wrote: "I wanted eggs for the kitchen, and a breath of fresh air for myself." "Did Miss Silvester see you ?" A negative shake of the head.
"Did she take the turning that leads to the railway ?" Another negative shake of the head.
"She went on, toward the moor ?" An affirmative reply.
"What did she do when she got to the moor ?" Hester Dethridge wrote: "She took the footpath which leads to Craig Fernie." Lady Lundie rose excitedly to her feet.

There was but one place that a stranger could go to at Craig Fernie.

"The inn!" exclaimed her ladyship.
"She has gone to the inn!" Hester Dethridge waited immovably.