It was the irony of fate that, on the one occasion when duty really summoned that champion popper-up-to-London to the Metropolis, he should be unable to answer the call. 'Very well,' I said. 'I'll go and look out a train.' 'Bister Glossop, you will be in charge of the school. Perhaps you had better go back to the boys dow.' White was in the hall when I got there. 'White,' I said, 'do you know anything about the trains to London?' 'Are you going to London?' he asked, in his more conversational manner. I thought he looked at me curiously as he spoke. 'Yes. Ogden Ford and Lord Beckford cannot be found. Mr Abney thinks they must have run away to London.' 'I shouldn't wonder,' said White dryly, it seemed to me. There was something distinctly odd in his manner. 'And you're going after them.' 'Yes. I must look up a train.' 'There is a fast train in an hour. You will have plenty of time.' 'Will you tell Mr Abney that, while I go and pack my bag? And telephone for a cab.' 'Sure,' said White, nodding. I went up to my room and began to put a few things together in a suit-case. I felt happy, for several reasons. A visit to London, after my arduous weeks at Sanstead, was in the nature of an unexpected treat. My tastes are metropolitan, and the vision of an hour at a music-hall--I should be too late for the theatres--with supper to follow in some restaurant where there was an orchestra, appealed to me. When I returned to the hall, carrying my bag, I found Audrey there. 'I'm being sent to London,' I announced. 'I know. White told me. Peter, bring him back.' 'That's why I'm being sent.' 'It means everything to me.' I looked at her in surprise. There was a strained, anxious expression on her face, for which I could not account. I declined to believe that anybody could care what happened to the Little Nugget purely for that amiable youth's own sake. Besides, as he had gone to London willingly, the assumption was that he was enjoying himself. 'I don't understand,' I said. 'What do you mean?' 'I'll tell you. Mr Ford sent me here to be near Ogden, to guard him. He knew that there was always a danger of attempts being made to kidnap him, even though he was brought over to England very quietly. That is how I come to be here. I go wherever Ogden goes. I am responsible for him. And I have failed. If Ogden is not brought back, Mr Ford will have nothing more to do with me. He never forgives failures. It will mean going back to the old work again--the dressmaking, or the waiting, or whatever I can manage to find.' She gave a little shiver. 'Peter, I can't. All the pluck has gone out of me. I'm afraid. I couldn't face all that again. Bring him back. You must. You will. Say you will.'