“But why then these solemn faces when you arrived?” she asked abruptly. “There must be something else!”
Phil’s boyish smile had also disappeared.
“Yes, there is something else,” he confessed, “and that’s what we came to see your father about. I fear we have been placed in a very false position, and all through my blunder.”
Helen’s womanly sympathies were aroused. “Go on,” she commanded earnestly.
“I don’t know just how to tell you,” he began helplessly; “it’s all so involved.” She nodded encouragingly. He was bending forward, his chin resting in his hand.
“In the motor accident yesterday the man hurt was carrying an important secret document belonging to the Japanese navy department. He lost it. O’Neil and Marley, of whom you have heard me speak, were seen, by some of the bystanders, to pick up a letter resembling the one lost, but it was not the same. Last night I found this lost letter in a very peculiar way. I put it in my pocket intending to think over what I should do with it; but really my mind was made up to return it to its owners, the Japanese. Then came the excitement in the theatre. After that we went with Taki to the Maple Club, intending to make ourselves presentable and return to the ball. The secret letter was in the inside pocket of my coat.”
Phil stopped, and Helen saw that his face was drawn and worried.
“Taki had told me of the loss of this letter,” he continued, “and I had promised him that if it came into my hands I would give it to him.” Phil’s voice was self-accusing.
“And he saw the letter in your pocket!” she exclaimed excitedly.
Phil sighed. “It was worse than that. I lost the letter, or at least it was probably taken out of my pocket.”