one can imagine her going away with is Cayley, and why should she go away
with him? If she married him before she was twenty-one, she forfeited a
million of money; well, she knew the penalty. Even if she would not wait
until she was of age, there is still no conceivable reason why she should
run away. We are forced, therefore, to the assumption that she was
kidnaped."

"I have never doubted it," I answered.

"I confess to some uncertainty," said Quarles, "but these letters put a
new complexion on the affair, I admit. Some one is out for money, Wigan,
and that fact is--"

He stopped short as a servant entered the room saying that I was wanted
on the telephone. I had left word that I was going to Chelsea. I was
informed that Sir Michael Lavory had telephoned for me to go and see him
at once. He said he had received a letter which was of the gravest
importance.

"Similar to ours, no doubt," said the professor when I repeated the
message to him. "We will go at once, Wigan, but I do not think there is
anything to be done until the scoundrels have made a further move. It
won't be many hours before they do so."

In the taxi he did not continue his negative arguments, and he was not
restless, as he usually was when upon a keen scent. No doubt he had a
theory, but I was convinced he was not satisfied with it himself.

Sir Michael, who had a flat in Kensington, was not alone. A young man was
with him, and Sir Michael introduced Mr. Edward Cayley.