were nevertheless an inevitable part
of his daily routine. He had long since ceased to allow any diversion
from the hard business in hand by even the most fascinating of
speculation. And obstacles did not halt him long. Like the ant, he never
stopped to scale them: he went around. It was very much quicker--and
time was of importance.

As if it were of trifling consequence, he handed back the letter from
Good. "I'll phone you when we learn anything," he said indifferently.

"You think--you can find him?"

The detective raised his palms. "That is hard to say."

"But you will do your best?"

"That goes without saying."

He smiled quizzically as he spoke. For the first time he noticed how
attractive his client was. A vague regret flitted across his mind that
if he disappeared there would be no one to seek him with such eagerness.
He dismissed the thought quickly, however. One in his position had no
time for such nonsense. Time was too valuable to be wasted in dreaming.
The Woman faded: only the Case remained. He fell to drumming on the desk
with his pencil, and Judith realised that he asked nothing further of
her. She thanked him and rose. Silently he opened a private door leading
to the hallway, bowed courteously as she passed him, and went back to
his desk as if he had already forgotten her.

Judith went home at once, and all through the morning, she saw to it
that she was not very far from the telephone. Every time it rang her
heart pounded a little harder, and each time that the call was not what
she hoped it would be, disappointment became a little more keen, the
fear of failure a little more pronounced.

The maid who served luncheon reported to the kitchen that her mistress
had tasted nothing.

"What did I tell ye?" said the cook with profound mysteriousness, and
even the chauffeur's boy, who could not recall that she had told
anything, was silenced. "There's things goin' on in this house," she
declared impressively, when she observed that the silence about her was
respectful, "as how none of ye understand." There was no denial.

At about three o'clock, Judith heard the first news.

"The postmark, of course, told us the general locality," said the placid
voice over the telephone, speaking very slowly and distinctly. "I have
just heard from one of my operatives who has been investigating the
drug-stores in the neighbourhood, that he expects to locate a doctor at
any time, who will be able to supply the re