"Ah! yes, of course," she cried quickly. "But this sorrow has, alas! not come alone. Still another misfortune has fallen upon me." "What's that?" I inquired, surprised. "My father!" she exclaimed huskily. "And what of him?" I asked. "I called upon him a short time ago. Surely nothing has happened to him?" "Well," she replied, "it occurred like this. I got permission this day week to leave business at five o'clock, and, as usual, went home. When, however, I arrived at the shop I found it shut, and to my amazement a bailiff was in possession." "For debt?" I inquired. "Yes. He showed me some papers, and said it would cost about four hundred pounds to settle both bill and costs of the court." "And your father? What was his explanation?" I asked, greatly interested and surprised. "He wasn't there," she responded. "That's the curious part about the whole affair. I made inquiries, and discovered that he had suddenly shut up the shop about noon three days before, and had gone off with a heavy trunk placed on a four-wheeled cab." "Does no one know where he's gone?" "Nobody," she answered excitedly. "It's so strange that he has not written me a single line in explanation. I can't understand it." I paused for a few moments, deeply puzzled. "From the fact that the bailiff was in possession it would appear that he had preferred flight to facing his creditors," I said slowly. "Were you aware that he was in debt?" "Not in the least," she answered. "He has some property abroad, you know." "Where?" "In France, I think. He never spoke of it to any one, although I knew that the rent was remitted regularly by a draft on the Credit Lyonnais in Pall Mall. I used to go there with him to receive the money. It was quite a pile of banknotes each quarter." "Then he could not really have been so badly off as he appeared?" I observed. "No. He was eccentric, and very miserly, and although he always had enough and to spare he used constantly to deplore our poverty. I took a situation merely to satisfy him, as he had so often expressed regret that I should be idling at home. There was, however, absolutely no real necessity." "But surely," I said, "he has not intentionally left you alone in the world? He will write very soon. Perhaps just now he does not write for fear his whereabouts should become known. He's evidently escaped his creditors. Has he been speculating, do you think?" "Not that I am aware of." "Can't you think of any reason why he should have fled so precipitately?" I asked, at the same time reflecting that it might be due to the fact that he had aroused the suspicions of the police by the illegal sale of drugs. "No," she answered. "None whatever, beyond what I've already explained. His flight is an entire mystery, and it was to seek the advice of Dick, as my closest friend, that I called here. How had I best act, do you think?"