in my life,
and it is only because of our old friendship that I have dropped you a
hint. Whether your father acts upon it or not, beg him to respect my
confidence, at any rate for the time being. I asked you to meet me
to-day----"

"Yes?" Winnie's tone was absent, his mind still grappling with the
quandary into which the other's warning had plunged him. "What is it,
Kearn?"

"Do you remember our last meeting before I went away, when you picked
me up in the Park?" Thode pushed his cup aside and leaned forward over
the table. "You told me you knew where Miss Murdaugh went when she
left the Halsteads. I want you to take me to her at once, without
delay."

Winnie shook his head.

"Sorry, old man. I saw her within an hour after dropping you at the
Park entrance and found her on the eve of departure. She told me she
was leaving New York that night, but she wouldn't tell me her
destination. I called again the next day and found she had gone; I
haven't heard anything of her since."

"That's a facer!" Thode groaned. "I had counted on finding her here.
Could she have returned to Limasito?"

"No, I've made inquiries. You see," Winnie explained hastily, "we'd
grown to be pretty-good friends and naturally the governor felt
responsible for her, in a way. He's been in constant communication
with Jim Baggott down there--the man who runs the hotel----"

"I remember."

"The governor located her first through him, you know, and he seems to
have been the one she trusted most after her foster father died, but
even he has heard nothing from her, or pretends he hasn't." Winnie
paused. "The governor has done everything possible to find her and
satisfy himself that she was all right, but she has dropped completely
from sight. He has aged over the whole thing, I can tell you! I think
he would give half he possesses to know that all was well with her."

Thode beckoned once more to the waiter, and, throwing a bill upon the
table, rose.

"If Miss Murdaugh has gone, I'm off to-night," he announced. "It was
to see her that I returned to New York, but since there's no chance of
that now I must take the trail again."

"I say, you haven't stumbled upon anything that would be to her
advantage, have you?" Winnie demanded suddenly as he followed his
friend to the door. "Anything about the past, I mean----?"

"No, Win." Thode spoke without turning. "It was just a--a little
private matter."

"And you're really off to-