Philip expressed his gratitude in a satisfactory manner and stood for a few moments at the window.  Although it was practically his first glimpse of New York, the wonders of the panorama over which he looked failed even to excite his curiosity.  The clanging of the surface cars, the roar and clatter of the overhead railway, the hooting of streams of automobiles, all apparently being driven at breakneck speed, alien sounds though they were, fell upon deaf ears.  He could neither listen nor observe.  Every second’s delay fretted him.  His plans were all made.  Everything depended upon their being carried out now without the slightest hitch.  He walked a dozen times to the door, waiting for his luggage, and when at last it arrived he was on the point of using the telephone.  He feed the linen-coated porters and dismissed them as rapidly as possible.  Then he ransacked the trunks until he found, amidst a pile of fashionable clothing, a quiet and inconspicuous suit of dark grey.  In the bathroom he hastily changed his clothes, selected an ordinary Homburg hat, and filled a small leather case with various papers.  He was on the point of leaving the room when his eyes fell upon the cable.  He hesitated for a moment, gazed at the superscription, shrugged his shoulders, and tore it open.  He moved to the window and read it slowly, word for word: 

“Just seen Henshaw.  Most disturbing interview.  Tells me you have had notice to reduce overdraft by February 1st.  Absolutely declines any further advances.  Payments coming in insufficient meet wages and current liabilities.  No provision for 4th bills, amounting sixteen thousand pounds.  Have wired London for accountant.  Await your instructions urgently.  Suggest you cable back the twenty thousand pounds lying our credit New York.  Please reply.  Very worried.  Potts.”

Word by word, Philip read the cable twice over.  Then it fluttered from his fingers on to the table.  It told its own story beyond any shadow of a mistake.  His cousin’s great wealth was a fiction.  The business to which his own fortune and the whole of his grandfather’s money had been devoted, was even now tottering.  He remembered the rumours he had heard of Douglas’ extravagance, his establishment in London, the burden of his college debts.  And then a further light flashed in upon him.  Twenty thousand pounds in America!—­lying there, too, for Douglas under a false name!  He drew out one of the documents which he had packed and glanced at it more carefully.  Then he replaced it, a little dazed.  Douglas had planned to leave England, then, with this crisis looming over him.  Why?  Philip for a moment sat down on the arm of an easy-chair.  A grim sense of humour suddenly parted his lips.  He threw back his head and laughed.  Douglas Romilly had actually been coming to America to disappear!  It was incredible but it was true.