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"He must have been out of his mind, poor lad, when he induced the
girl to run away with him. But, as my son has ruined her," he
set his teeth as if the boy's sin stabbed him, "I must look after
her welfare."
"You may set your mind at rest on that point," said I. "He
smuggled her at once aboard the ship, and seems scarcely to have
said how d'ye do to her afterwards. That is the mad part of it."
" Can I be sure?"
" I would stake my life on it," said I.
"How do you know?"
" Frankness--I may say embarrassing frankness is one of the young
lady's drawbacks."
He looked greatly relieved. I acquainted him with Carlotta's
antecedents, and outlined the part I had played in the story.
"Then," said he, "I will see the child back to her home. I will
take her there myself. I cannot allow you any longer to have the
burden of befriending her, when it is my duty to repair my boy's
wrongdoing."
I explained to him the terror of Hamdi Effendi's clutches, and
told him of my promise.
"Then what is to be done?" he asked.


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