The latter was the more dangerous; and they had not yet been able
to trace him. Mr. Carr's friend, Detective Green, had furnished that
gentleman with a descriptive bill of Gordon of the mutiny: "a young,
slight man, with light eyes and fair hair." This did not answer exactly
to the Gorton who had played his part at Calne; but then, in regard to
the latter, there remained the suspicion that the red hair was false.
Whether it was the same man or whether it was two men--if the phrase may
be allowed--neither of them, to use Detective Green's expressive words,
turned up. And thus the months had passed on, with nothing special to
mark them. Captain Kirton had been conveyed abroad for the winter, and
they had good news of him; and the countess-dowager was inflicting a
visit upon one of her married daughters in Germany, the baroness with the
unpronounceable name.
And the matter had nearly faded from the mind of Lady Hartledon. It would
quite have faded, but for certain interviews with Thomas Carr at his
chambers, when Hartledon's look of care precluded the idea that they
could be visits of mere idleness or pleasure; and for the secret trouble
that unmistakably sat on her husband like an incubus. At times he would
moan in his sleep as one in pain; but if told of this, had always some
laughing answer ready for her--he had dreamed he was fighting a lion or
being tossed by a bull.
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