“No,” admitted Carrados. “I don’t think that in the circumstances it is at all probable.”
“Then where are we, Max?”
“A little further than we were at the beginning. Very little.... Are you willing to give me a roving commission to investigate?”
“Of course, Max, of course,” assented Mr Carlyle heartily. “I—well, as far as I was concerned, I regarded the matter as settled.”
Carrados turned to his desk and the ghost of a smile might possibly have lurked about his face. He produced some stationery and indicated it to his visitor.
“You don’t mind giving me a line of introduction to your niece?”
“Pleasure,” murmured Carlyle, taking up a pen. “What shall I say?”
Carrados took the inquiry in its most literal sense and for reply he dictated the following letter:—
“‘My dear Elsie,’—
“If that is the way you usually address her,” he parenthesized.