"Heaven only knows!" I answered. "I am afraid we are at the end of our tether. If Guest has yet another card up his sleeve, he has kept it secret from me. I must see him at once."
"You will let me hear from you soon?" she begged as I departed.
"The newspapers may have more to tell you than I," I answered. "But I will come again—about the situation!"
Guest was waiting for me in the little glass enclosure we called an office. He saw my news written in my face.
"She has failed," he murmured.
"Utterly!" I answered.
We were both silent for a moment. The crisis of our fortunes had come, and, for the first time, I saw Guest falter. He removed his spectacles for a moment, and there was despair in his eyes.
"To think that we should have done so much—in vain," he muttered. "If one could think of it, there must be a way out."
His head drooped for a moment, and, glancing up, I saw Hirsch's dark inquisitive face watching us through the glass.
"Put on your spectacles and be careful," I whispered. "We are being watched."