The Mission of Poubalov — page 127: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

LOUISE RECEIVES A CALLER. 123 _ take, therefore, in order to carry out her part in the spy’s - design? “I would say yes,’’ declared Mr. Pembroke at length, “for that is my wish, but Ido not, cannot say it. Go to this Lizzie White to-morrow, Clara. You will know how to speak with her better than I can tell you. I will myself go to the house with you, but you shall have your meet- ing all alone if you so desire. Of course you do.’’ ‘“Then, uncle,’’ said Clara, ‘‘let me tell you of the strange things that have occurred since I began to search for Ivan. I am sure you will feel, when you know all, that I am justified in my general course, however much I may have been mistaken in details,’’ Mr. Pembroke listened with the closest attention to the narrative. He was deeply moved by it, and when she had finished he said brokenly: **There is great villainy at work here.’’ Then he leaned his head upon his hand, shielding his eyes from hers as she eagerly sought, not so much com- mendation of her persistence as suggestion as to what to do, or some theory upon which to explain the many mys- teries that centered upon the disappearance of Ivan. **I wonder,’’ he mused at last, ‘‘if this could have been accident?’’ ‘Accident, uncle!’’ exclaimed Clara, with just a touch of impatience; ‘‘don’t you see that if it had been accident, we should have known of it? Think: in a busy street of a city no accident could have occurred by which Ivan could be incapacitated without some report of it coming to tha authorities. Even if Ivan had not been taken to a hospital in the usual way, but had fallen into the hands of private persons, it is not possible that with all the stir that was made by his disappearance, police or reporters should not have found some trace of him.’’ “True, true,’’ said Mr. Pembroke, vacantly; ‘‘I was thinking—you see it is hard to master all these strange details at once. I marvel at your courage.”’ (CO iin *‘Courage! What else could I do?’’ asked Clara) )\¢500<