think out another way, reflect on my solution. Meantime, let me have
another look at that accursed letter."

Mama Thérèse did not respond, she offered no objection when Dupont took up
the sheet of paper that lay between them, but ground the heels of her hands
into her fat cheeks and sat glowering vindictively while he read aloud,
slowly, with the labour of one to whom reading is unaccustomed dissipation:

DEAR MADAM:

Herewith we beg to enclose our cheque to your order in the sum of two
hundred and fifty pounds, being the quarterly payment in advance due you
from the estate of our deceased client, the Princess Sofia Vassilyevski,
for your care of her daughter. We further beg to advise that, pursuant to
the provisions of her will, we begin to-day, on the eighteenth birthday of
the young Princess Sofia, a search for her father with the object of
apprising him of his daughter's existence. Therefore we would request you
to make arrangements to have the young Princess Sofia brought to England
forthwith from the convent in France where we understand she is finishing
her education. We take leave, however, to advise that, pending the outcome
of our enquiries, the question of her father's existence be not discussed
with the young princess. In event of his death being established or of
failure to find him within six months, the Princess Sofia is to enter
without more delay or formality into possession of her mother's estate.


Papa Dupont put down the letter. "It is plain enough," he expounded: "if
this father is found, we can whistle for our money; whereas if I were
married to Sofia, as her husband I would control--"