"No, I'll go myself," said he. "Pray forgive me. You don't know what a terrible slander they have desecrated your prayerbook with."
He ran out and was a long time gone. He came back at last, looking terrified.
"I can't find it," said he. "Somebody has carried it off. Oh, how unfortunate I am!"
"Not find it!" said Helen. "But it must be found."
"Of course it must be found," said Arthur. "A pretty scandal to go into the hands of Heaven knows who. I shall offer twenty guineas reward for it at once. I'll go down to the Times this moment. Was ever anything so unlucky?"
"Yes, go at once," said Helen; "and I'll send the servants into the Square. I don't want to say anything unkind, Arthur, but you ought not to have thrown my prayer-book into the public street."
"I know I ought not. I am ashamed of it myself."
"Well, let me see the advertisement."
"You shall. I have no doubt we shall recover it."
Next morning the Times contained an advertisement offering twenty guineas for a prayer-book lost in Hanover Square, and valuable, not in itself, but as a relic of a deceased parent.