But the writing was hers.

The hours passed slowly till the papers were cried in the street.

What Mr.Ransom read in them increased his astonishment, I might say his anxiety.

It was a paragraph about his wife, an almost incredible one, running thus: A strange explanation is given of the disappearance of Mrs.Roger Ransom on her wedding-day.

As our readers will remember, she accompanied her husband to the hotel, but managed to slip away and leave the house while he still stood at the desk.