can be; you look very ill indeed," sighed his
aunt. "You are only keeping about from sheer will power, and I'm
afraid you'll pay for your stubbornness later on. Tell me, though,"
she went on, slightly lowering her voice. "Is there any news of her?"

He shook his head and drew a long discouraged breath.

"None whatever; not a word, not a sign. It is most mysterious. I've
done everything I could think of. There may possibly be a pension or
two I haven't discovered, but even so it's very odd that not one of the
taxi-drivers in Cannes can recall taking a fare on Tuesday afternoon
that answers her description. I've investigated it thoroughly."

"Don't you think the driver may have forgotten?"

"Most unlikely. It was sufficiently odd picking up an American girl in
the street with her luggage, to say nothing of the broken-down car; the
circumstances were unusual enough to impress themselves on a man's
memory for a couple of days at any rate. I have even looked up two
chauffeurs who were home ill, but it was no good."

"It is indeed most odd! Have you done anything else?"

"Yes. I've seen the police and reported her as missing."

"Oh!"--in a shocked tone--"Do you consider it as serious as that?"

"What do _you_ think? If Esther were my sister and went off like that,
leaving no trace, wouldn't you consider it serious? Here is a young
girl in a strange country, without friends. If we don't take an
interest in finding her, who will? All sorts of things may have
happened to her, things one doesn't like to think about." He moistened
his lips, continuing with difficulty. "She may have been decoyed and
robbed, or--or even something much worse. It's no good shutting one's
eyes to the possibility of it."

His face betrayed the serious disturbance of his thoughts. For several
seconds his aunt went on with her knitting. Then laying down her work
she said in a guarded tone, glancing at Lady Clifford's door:

"Of course there's one thing that would alter all that. Suppose what
Arthur Holliday told Therese wasn't true."

"You mean he may have invented that story of the breakdown? Yes, it's
quite possible. Only in that case..."

"Don't misunderstand me, Roger," interrupted the old lady quickly. "I
could never bring myself to believe anything wrong of that nice girl, I
simply couldn't--that is if she were quite herself, responsible, and
all that. Only I can't help wondering if you have heard what the
docto