The statement that I had made to Thorndyke was perfectly true in substance; but it was hardly as significant in fact as the words implied. I had, it is true, in my journeyings abroad, restricted myself to well-beaten thoroughfares. But then I had had no occasion to do otherwise. Until Polton’s arrival on the scene my time had been wholly taken up in keeping a watch on Marion; and so it would have continued if I had followed my own inclination. But at the end of the first day’s work she intervened resolutely.
“I am perfectly ashamed,” she said, “to occupy the time of two men, both of whom have their own affairs to attend to, though I can’t tell you how grateful I am to you for sacrificing yourselves.”
“We are acting under the doctor’s orders, Miss,” said Polton, thereby, in his opinion, c
