“Now, then, do you know of anything, even the slightest, irregular, mysterious or complicating circumstance in the life of Mr. Ellison?” “Mr. Carter,” said Mr. Sanborn, “if I have asked that question of myself once to-day, since all this happened, I have asked it twenty times. And I have been unable to answer it other than that his life has been a straight, open book.” He bent his head in thought for a moment or two and continued: “I see your position and your point. I am earnest and sincere in what I say. If, when I can give calmer thought to this thing than I have yet been able to do, and some things occur to me that I cannot now recall, I promise you that I will come to you with them at once.” “Very well,” said Nick, “as we seem to have exhausted the subject for the present, I will go with you to see Mrs. Ellison.” Telling Chick, Patsy and Ida to remain until he should return, Nick went off with young Mr. Sanborn to the home of the millionaire. Arriving, he was taken at once to the apartments of the young lady who, as he entered, was reclining upon a lounge. She rose immediately, and, crossing the room to meet him, said: “Dear Mr. Carter, I want you to understand from the first that I have every faith in my husband. Don’t let anybody, no matter who, make you believe that Mr. Ellison is not a good man. I wanted to say this to you in the beginning. What has occurred, or why he has done this, of course, I don’t know. But, whatever it is, it has been done because he could not help himself, not from any intention to leave me. He loves me, I know, and I know it as well as I know that I love him. I can tell you nothing to help you in your search, but I did want you to know my faith in him, and I wanted to see and talk with the man who has my faith and future in his hands. That is you. Whether life will be of any value to me will depend entirely on what you do and what you discover. And, having seen you, I know I can trust you to do all that can be done.” The young lady had been so earnest and had worked herself up to such a degree of agitation that, at the conclusion of her words, she swooned again. But she soon recovered, and Nick, perceiving that she was again herself, went downstairs to Mr. Sanborn’s room to have an interview with him. CHAPTER XVII. PATSY’S POINTER. Nick returned to his assistants after his interview with Mr. Sanborn. He was thoughtful and perplexed. Mr. Sanborn had been unable to contribute a single idea or additional bit of information that would help Nick to a starting place. “In all my experience,” said Nick, “I have never met with just such a case. “All that we have is that a man has mysteriously disappeared at a most unexpected moment, and when his disappearance is likely to lose him all he had been striving for for two years. “Those who know the man best, who for two years have been his intimate associates, cannot even suggest a notion as to what might be the cause of it.”