“I understand,” he said, “that he is absent from home, temporarily absent. I have no doubt----” Miss Blow rose from her chair and took up her umbrella. “You’re like all the rest,” she said. “You are as bad as the hotel-keeper and his friend. You are simply trying to put me off with lies. Good morning.” “Wait a moment. Please do not hurry away. I am not like all the rest, really. I assure you I’m,--compared to Patsy Devlin, for instance,--I’m a miserably inefficient liar. Please sit down again.” Miss Blow allowed herself to be persuaded. “Tell me the truth,” she said; “and then find his body.” “The truth,” said Lord Manton, “is painful--very painful. But it’s not so bad as that. Dr. O’Grady has been for some time past in a position of considerable pecuniary embarrassment.” “He was up to his neck in debt,” said Miss Blow bluntly. “I know that. That’s what brought me here. And now I find he’s gone.” There was just a hint of a break in her voice as she spoke the last words. Lord Manton thought that tears were at last imminent. He felt more at his ease, and ventured to take her hand in his and to stroke it gently. She snatched it from him. “You’re worse than the others,” she said. “How dare you?” For a moment Lord Manton thought that she was going to box his ears. He drew away from her hurriedly and attempted an apology. “I am sincerely sorry,” he said. “For the moment I forgot that you were not my daughter. She always came to me with her troubles ever since she was quite a child. I got into the way of taking her hand----” “Never mind about my hand. Tell me the truth about Dr. O’Grady.” Lord Manton saw that she was mollified. To be mistaken for the daughter of an earl is a soothing thing under any circumstances. He thought for an instant of trying to repossess himself of her hand; but Miss Blow’s eyes, though no longer passionate, were steely. He felt himself aggrieved, and spoke with brutal directness. “To put the matter plainly,” he said, “Dr. O’Grady has run away from his creditors.” “I don’t believe a word of it,” said Miss Blow. “I have no doubt that he intended to let you know where he was going. I expect he wants you to go after him and join him there--make a fresh start, you know, in the New World, and build up a happy home, where the miserable past may be forgotten. That’s what he means. I’m convinced of it. Only he had to leave this rather hurriedly in the middle of the night. But don’t be despondent, Miss Blow; you’ll get a letter from him soon.” “That’s all nonsense,” said Miss Blow. “He’s done nothing of the sort.” “But, my dear young lady, how can you possibly speak so confidently? He’s not the first man who has run away under such circumstances. Plenty of people do it, I assure you. It’s not even considered disgraceful.” “I know he didn’t.” “But how do you know?”