Gilead bent to the paper again, and smiled.
“What a very odd advertisement!” he said. “Is it nonsense or innocence, do you think?”
The secretary shrugged his shoulders slightly.
“Supposing we ask Miss Halifax’s opinion, Mr Balm?”
Gilead said “certainly,” and leaned back in his chair as the secretary carried the paper to the young lady, who was engaged at her desk over correspondence.
“Do you take that for a hoax, Miss Halifax?”
The beautiful amanuensis read and considered.
“No, Mr Balm,” she said. “This was written, I am sure, by some distressed child, whose people take in the Daily Post. If it were a hoax, some covering address would have been given.”
Gilead rose.
“Give me the paper, please,” he said.