She had not had time for a proper bath in the week since this journey had begun. She had been forced to bathe in the washbasins of the inns along the route, giving herself what her old nursemaid would have called “a lick and a promise.”

After Essien's poor attempt flew into the stands, Rodrigo Moreno—Bolton's on-loan winger from Benfica who was making his full Premier League debut—nearly exposed the Blues with a lovely ball for Johan Elmander, but it just skipped away from his team-mate's toes.

“Charming, there you are. I've been looking all over for you. Grumpy pants here wouldn't tell me where you went.”

The company, based in Boston and the third-largest securitizer of student loans, received a subpoena on Aug. 22, according to a statement yesterday on its Web site.