"And Miss Toat told _me_," repeated the Colonel, smiling. "The fact is--I hope you will not mind my saying this, as I am old enough to be your father, young lady--you remind me of someone who was very dear to me. Curiosity made me ask your name." "And curiosity made me ask what yours was also," said Audrey, quickly. "Your face--your eyes, to be particular--remind me of someone." Ilse looked at her rather oddly. "Of whom, may I ask?" he said eagerly. The girl shook her head. "I can't say; but I almost feel as if I had known you before. I daresay it is fancy." "Perhaps it is, and perhaps it isn't," said the Colonel, quietly. "What do you mean?" "Nothing, Miss Branwin; only we may have met by chance." The excuse did not satisfy Audrey, but she could not very well go on asking questions. She liked the looks of Colonel Ilse. He had a handsome but rather sad face, and his blue eyes were strangely kind and pathetic. "You are searching for your little girl?" she said impulsively. "Miss Toat told me." "Upon my word," said the Colonel, humorously, "Miss Toat seems to have told you a great deal. Yes, Miss Branwin, I am looking for my daughter who was stolen from me some twenty and more years ago. A hospital nurse took her away, and I have never been able to find her." "Why did the nurse take her away?" Colonel Ilse actually blushed through his tan. "It was in a fit of jealousy that she did so," he explained hurriedly. "That is, she--well, it is too long a story to tell you. But I have placed the matter in the hands of Miss Toat, and lately she has told me that she thinks she will be successful in finding my daughter." Audrey shook her pretty head gravely. "It is a long time after the loss to think of finding her." "I have been in India for many years," said the Colonel, who seemed to be singularly frank in his conversation, "and a military man has scanty time to attend to his own affairs. But lately I have retired, and as I have come in for a fortune, owing to the death of my uncle, I greatly wish to find my child, so that she may be my heiress." "I hope you will be successful," said Audrey, sympathetically. "I hope so too, and I think if we can trace this hospital nurse that the truth will become known. The nurse has-- Oh!"--Colonel Ilse stopped explaining as the door opened to reveal Perry Toat--"here is the lady. Miss Branwin, I shall leave you to discharge your business first. My interview can come later." And the Colonel bowed himself into the outer room. Perry Toat took off her gloves and sat at her desk. By this time the effect of Madame Coralie's improvements had worn off more or less, and the detective was rapidly becoming the drab, unlovely personage she actually was. But Audrey liked her better without the mask of fictitious loveliness, as she had an honest if ugly face. The girl felt that she could absolutely trust her. And she wanted someone to trust, now that Ralph had failed her.