"Oh, I hope not!" exclaimed Mrs. White. "I declare! it makes me feel dreadfully about Lizzie."
The young men departed at once upon their errands. It was Paul Palovna who came upon a clew. He found where Ivan had engaged his carriage, and he went to the livery stable, which was in the South End, to find what had become of the driver and his passenger. He arrived there just after the driver had come in with his damaged carriage.
"I started in with the gentleman," said the driver, "but I broke down at the corner of Tremont and Park Streets and he went along with somebody else."
"Who was it?" asked Paul.
"I don't know. I never saw the cabman before."
"Whose rig was it?"
"I don't know that, either. I never saw the horse before, and the carriage was like hundreds of others that you might see in Boston any day."
Paul tried to think what ought to be done next.
"Did Mr. Strobel have a second accident?" asked one of the stable proprietors.