we are not altogether out of it?" I emphasised, complacently.

He smiled which hardly seemed apropos. Why does George sometimes smile
when I am in my most serious moods.

As we stepped out of the hotel, George gave my arm a quiet pinch which
served to direct my attention to an elderly gentleman who, was just
alighting from a taxicab at the kerb. He moved heavily and with some
appearance of pain, but from the crowd collected on the sidewalk many of
whom nudged each other as he passed, he was evidently a person of some
importance, and as he disappeared within the hotel entrance, I asked
George who this kind-faced, bright-eyed old gentleman could be.

He appeared to know, for he told me at once that he was Detective Gryce;
a man who had grown old in solving just such baffling problems as these.

"He gave up work some time ago, I have been told," my husband went on;
"but evidently a great case still has its allurement for him. The trail
here must be a very blind one for them to call him in. I wish we had
not left so soon. It would have been quite an experience to see him at
work."

"I doubt if you would have been given the opportunity. I noticed that we
were slightly de trop towards the last."

"I wouldn't have minded that; not on my own account, that is. It might
not have been pleasant for you. However, the office is waiting. Come,
let me put you on the car."

That night I bided his coming with an impatience I could not control. He
was late, of course, but when he did appear, I almost forgot our usual
greeting in my hurry to ask him if he had seen the evening papers.

"No," he grumbled, as he hung up his overcoat. "Been pushed about all
day. No time for anything."

"Then let me tell you--"

But he would have dinner first.

However, a little later we had a comfortable chat. Mr. Gryce had made
a discovery, and the papers were full of it. It was one which gave me a
small triumph over George. The suggestion he had laughed at was not so
entirely foolish as he had been pleased to consider it. But let me tell
the story of that day, without any further reference to myself.

The opinion had become quite general with those best acquainted with the
details of this affair, that the mystery was one of those abnormal
ones for which no solution would ever be found, when the aged detective
showed himself in the building and was taken to the room, where an
Inspector of Police awaited him. Their greeting was cordial, and the