n't be here for another ten minutes, so you may as well show
her in." Then to myself I added--"This is a development of the case
which I did not expect. I wonder who she is,--wife, sister, daughter, or
what, of the blind man?"

I was not to be left long in doubt, for presently the door opened and
the young lady herself entered the room. I say '_young lady_,' because
her age could not at most have been more than one-or two-and-twenty.
She was tall and the possessor of a graceful figure, while one glance
was sufficient to show me that her face was an exceedingly pretty one.
(Afterwards I discovered that her eyes were dark brown.) I rose and
offered her a chair.

"Good morning, Miss Kitwater," I said. "This is an unexpected visit.
Won't you sit down?"

When she had done so I resumed my seat at the table.

"Mr. Fairfax," she began, "you are the great detective, I believe?"

I admitted the soft impeachment with as much modesty as I could assume
at so short a notice. She certainly was a very pretty girl.

"I have come to talk to you about my uncle."

She stopped as if she did not quite know how to proceed.

"Then the gentleman who called upon me yesterday, and who has the
misfortune to be blind, is your uncle?" I said.

"Yes! He was my father's younger and only brother," she answered. "I
have often heard my father speak of him, but I had never seen him myself
until he arrived in England, a month ago with his companion, Mr. Codd.
Mr. Fairfax, they have suffered terribly. I have never heard anything so
awful as their experiences."

"I can quite believe that," I answered. "Your uncle told me something
of their great trouble yesterday. It seems wonderful to me that they
should have survived to tell the tale."

"Then he must have told you of Hayle, their supposed friend" (she spoke
with superb scorn), "the man who betrayed them and robbed them of what
was given them?"

"It was for that purpose that they called upon me," I answered. "They
were anxious that I should undertake the search for this man."

She rested her clasped hands upon the table and looked pleadingly at me.

"And will you do so?"

"I am considering the matter," I said, with the first feeling of
reluctance I had experienced in the case. "I have promised to give them
my decision this afternoon."

"So they informed me, and that is why I am here," she replied. "Oh, Mr.
Fairfax, you don't know how I pity them! Surely if they could find this
man his he