"Did this gentleman come with the young lady when her portrait
was taken?" I inquired.
"I can't tell, sir," she replied. "I've only been here a year,
and you see the date—over two years ago."
"The photographer would know, perhaps?"
"He's a new man, sir. He only came a month ago. In fact, the
business changed hands a year ago, and none of the previous
employees have remained."
"Ah! that's unfortunate," I said, greatly disappointed; and
having copied the address to which the negative and prints had been
sent, I thanked her and left.
Who, I wondered, was this Baron Oberg, and what relation was he
to Elma Heath?
The picture of the girl in the white blouse somehow exercised a
strange attraction for me.
Have you never experienced the fascination of a photograph,
inexplicable and
