"Her father'sh in difficultiesh, and mum's the word, my dear." To that answer he adhered, in spite of all that I could say to him.
With equal obstinacy I determined, sooner or later, to get my information.
I took service under Mr.Pickup, purposing to make myself essential to his prosperity, in a commercial sense--and then to threaten him with offering my services to a rival manufacturer of Old Masters, unless he trusted me with the secret of the name and address.

My plan looked promising enough at the time.

But, as some wise person has said, Man is the sport of circumstances.

Mr.Pickup and I parted company unexpectedly, on compulsion.

And, of all the people in the world, my grandmother, Lady Malkinshaw, was the unconscious first cause of the events which brought me and the beloved object together again, for the third time!.