watching her closely, and he
understood.

"I am sorry," he said, "to have so little to tell you. But that is the
beginning and the end of it. The man had gone away."

"That is precisely what I desired to ascertain," she said. "It seemed to
me possible that the man had come to England. I wished to know for
certain whether it was true or not."

"I think," Deyes said, withdrawing his cigarette and looking at it
thoughtfully, "that it is true."

"You have any further reason for thinking so," she asked, "beyond your
casual inquiries?"

"Well, yes!" he admitted. "I went a little farther than those casual
inquiries. It seemed such a meagre report to bring you."

"Go on!"

"The ordinary person," he continued smoothly, "would never believe the
extreme difficulty with which one collects any particulars as to the
home life of a guide. More than once I felt inclined to give up the task
in despair. It seemed to me that a guide could have no home, that he
must sleep in odd moments on a bench at the _Hotel de Luxe_. I tried to
fancy a guide in the bosom of his family, carving a Sunday joint, and
surrounded by Mrs. Guide and the little Guides. I couldn't do it. It
seemed to me somehow grotesque. Just as I was giving it up in despair,
the commissionaire at a night cafe in Montmartre told me exactly what I
wanted to know. He showed me the house where Johnny, as they called him,
had a room."

"You went there?" she asked.

"I did," he answered.

"It was locked up?"

"On the contrary," he declared, "Mrs. or Miss Guide was at home, and
very pleased to see me."

"There was a woman there?"

"Assuredly. Whether she is there now or not I cannot say, for it is
three days ago, and to me she seemed nearer than that to death!"

"And about this woman! What was she like? Was she his wife or his
daughter?"

"He called her his daughter. I am not sure about the relationship. She
had been good-looking, I should say, but she was very ill."

"What did she tell you--about the man Johnson?"

"That he had gone to England to try to get some money. They were almost
destitute! He was a good guide, she said, but people came so often to
Paris, and they liked some one fresh. Then she coughed--how she
coughed!"

"Did she tell you to what part of England the man Johnson had gone?"

"I asked her, but she was not sure. I do not believe that she knew. She
said that there was some one in England who was very rich, and from whom
he hoped to be a