"Yes."

"Well," said I, "it's a pretty wild kind of a tale, and all I have got
to say is, that neither you nor Thompson had better go blabbing it
around too much. Mum is the word where such men as Mr. Blake are
concerned." And I departed to hunt up Thompson.

But he had nothing to add to his statement, except that the girl
appeared to be tall and thin, and was closely wrapped about in a
shawl. My next move was to make such inquiries as I could with safety
into the private concerns of Mr. Blake and his family, and
discovered--well, such facts as these:

That Mr. Blake was a man who if he paid but little attention to
domestic affairs was yet rarely seen out of his own house, except
upon occasions of great political importance, when he was always to be
found on the platform at meetings of his constituents. Though to the
ordinary observer a man eminently calculated, from his good looks,
fine position, and solid wealth to enjoy society, he not only
manifested a distaste for it, but even went so far as to refuse to
participate in the social dinners of his most intimate friends; the
only table to which he would sit down being that of some public
caterer, where he was sure of finding none but his political
associates assembled.

To all appearance he wished to avoid the ladies, a theory borne out by
the fact that never, even in church, on the street, or at any place
of amusement, was he observed with one at his side. This fact in a
man, young--he was not far from thirty-five at that time--rich, and