And why, just before he had disappeared, had Heyton looked round him,

secretively, cautiously, as if he did not wish to be seen? It was

ridiculous, Derrick told himself; but it seemed to him as if Heyton were

hiding something. Half-unconsciously, he made a mental note of the spot

at which Heyton had made that curious pause in his progress. But Derrick

did not go to it; he wanted particularly to avoid Heyton--and Miriam,

everyone connected with that wretched past which still hung over him

like a cloud. So he returned to the road and went straight back to the

inn.

Awaiting him, he found a letter from the engineers concerning matters

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which needed his immediate presence in London. He had just time to

snatch a hasty breakfast, left word with the landlord for Reggie that

he, Derrick, was obliged to go to London but would return by the night

train, and reached the station just as the train came in. He was hot

and, no doubt, looked rather worried; for there was no means of letting

Celia know that he had gone, or of making an appointment with her. Of

course, he pictured her wandering about the wood in the hope of seeing

him, and acutely imagined her disappointment.




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