"That accounts, then, for the whimsical title of the girl."
"Possibly, sir."
"You have seen her?"
"I have."
"And, she is, as you say, pretty?"
"I have not used the word pretty. She is beautiful."
"Richards," said Arthur Temple, with excitement, "the girl must be saved!"
Richards did not reply. He was a practical man, and was not given to sentimental action on the spur of the moment.
"It is my duty," continued Arthur, "to save her. Will you assist me?"
Richards hesitated. The reports he had written to Mr. Temple and Arthur were straightforward and to the point. In so far, he had done his duty. But there was a matter he had not touched upon in those reports--a discovery he had made which had astonished and perplexed him.