his departure had been December twenty-fourth. Ethel returned uptown and called at the newspaper offices, where she found that she had no response to her advertisements for Bagley; so she went back to Scott Street late in the afternoon and there met her aunt upon Myra's third attempt to find her. She declined firmly, but without discussion, aunt Myra's cordial invitation to stay with the family on the outer Drive.
Before writing to Barney that night, Ethel reread—as many times during the day she had already done—the letter from Huston Adley. Her immediate course of action had become quite plain to her; yet she reconsidered thoughtfully before recording her purpose.
"My dear Mr. Loutrelle," she addressed Barney. "Last night I had a remarkable experience—" and she detailed how she had confirmed, through her cousin, the existence of James Quinlan and Robert and the history of James Quinlan's association with her grandfather and his recent disappearance.
I gained really very little more to-day, she continued, and except as I learn incidents from my uncle or cousins, I do not think I am likely to get, in any ordinary way, anything more to help us, as Marcellus Clarke remains away and Bagley does not appear.
Besides, everything else seems secondary to the one certain thing which I should do; this is to try to speak with and to hear my Father.
I suppose I must seem stupid to you not to have thought of this much earlier, but the truth is I have been thinking about it a very great deal—too much, perhaps.
Before I met you and you told me of your experience with the Philip Carew who wished to speak with you,
