ently. "I should be afraid--"

"Well?"

"I might put it that Mrs. D----, anxious about Emily, desires
information of her whereabouts--"

"Put it any way you like."

"You had better add," said I, speaking for the first time, "that you
would be willing to pay for information."

"Yes," said Mr. Gryce, "add that."

Mrs. Daniels frowned, but made no objection, and after getting as minute
a description as possible of the clothing worn by the girl the night
before, we left the house.

CHAPTER IV. THOMPSON'S STORY

"An affair of some mystery," remarked Mr. Gryce, as we halted at the
corner to take a final look at the house and its environs. "Why a girl
should choose such a method of descent as that,"--and he pointed to the
ladder down which we believed her to have come--"to leave a house of
which she had been an inmate for a year, baffles me, I can tell you. If
it were not for those marks of blood which betray her track, I would
be disinclined to believe any such hare-brained adventure was ever
perpetrated by a woman. As it is, what would'nt I give for her
photograph. Black hair, black eyes, white face and thin figure! what a
description whereby to find a girl in this great city of New York.
Ah!" said he with sudden gratification, "here is Mr. Blake again; his
appointment must have been a failure. Let us see if his description will
be any more definite." And hurrying towards the advancing figure of that
gentleman, he put some questions to him.

Instantly Mr. Blake stopped, looked at him blankly for a moment, then
replied in a tone sufficiently loud for me to hear:

"I am sorry, sir, if my description could have done you any good, but I
have not the remotest idea how the girl looked. I did not know till
this morning even, that there was such a person in my house as a
sewing-woman. I leave all such domestic concerns entirely with Mrs.
Daniels."

Mr. Gryce again bowed low and ventured another question. The answer came
as before, distinctly to my ears.

"O, I may have seen her, I can not say about that; I very often run
across the servants in the hall; but whether she is tall or short, light
or dark, pretty or ugly, I know no more than you do, sir." Then with
a dignified nod calculated to abash a man in Mr. Gryce's position,
inquired,

"Is that all?"

It did not seem to be, Mr. Gryce put another question.

Mr. Blake give him a surprised stare before replying, then courteously
remarked,

"I do not concer