"'"Influenza," surlily answered my father, for he was not to be caught napping, and Marple went away hurriedly. Marple was something in the city. The two young men were great friends, but there are some things which cannot be told even to friends. It was not influenza my father had got. To his fevered onomatopoeic fancy, Marple's quick quadruple rap had translated itself into the word: OLOTUTU. "'At this hour of the day, my dear Sybil, it is superfluous to say anything about this word, with which you have been familiar from your cradle. It has now been before the public over a quarter of a century, and it has long since won immortality. Little did you think when we sat in the railway carriage yesterday, that the "Olotutu" that glared at you from the partition was the far-away cause of the cloud now hanging over our lives. But it may be interesting to you to learn that in the early days many people put the accent on the second syllable, whereas all the world now knows, the accent is on the first, and the "o" of "ol" is short. When my father found he had set the Thames on fire, he was almost beside himself with joy. At the office the clerks, in the intervals of wondering about "Olotutu" wondered if he had come into a fortune. He determined to follow up his success: to back the winning word, to consecrate his life to "Olotutu," to put all his money on it. Thenceforwards for the next three months you very rarely opened a paper without seeing the word, "Olotutu." It stood always by itself, self-complete and independent, rigid and austere, in provoking sphynx-like solitude. Sybil, imagine to yourself my father's rapture! To be the one man in all England who had the clue to the enigma of "Olotutu!" At last the burden of his secret became intolerable. He felt he must breathe a hint of it or die. One night while Marple was smoking in his rooms and wondering about "Olotutu," my father proudly told him all. "'"Great heavens!" exclaimed Marple. "Tip us your flipper, old man! You are a millionaire." "'"A what?" gasped my father. "'"A millionaire!" "'"Are you a lunatic?" "'"Are you an idiot? Don't you see that there is a fortune in 'Olotutu'?" "'"A fortune! How?" "'"By bringing it out as a Joint Stock Company." "'"But--but--but you don't understand. 'Olotutu' is only----" "'"Only an income for life," interrupted Marple excitedly. "Look here, old boy, I'll get you up a syndicate to run it in twenty-four hours." "'"Do you mean to say----?" "'"No, I mean to do. I'm an ass not to quietly annex it all to myself, but I always said I was too honest for the City. Give me 'Olotutu' and we'll divide the profits. Glory! Hooray!" "'He capered about the floor wildly.