She seemed
to be questioning him, while he gave rather hesitating replies. It
seemed to me that he had come to Madrid in order to meet her.
Therefore when after about half an hour they parted, I followed the
lady. She took a cab and drove to the North Station, where she took a
ticket for Segovia which I found was about sixty miles from here. I,
of course, entered another compartment of the train and in about three
hours we reached our destination. At the station she was met by a
handsome young girl, who began to ply her with questions to which the
elder woman replied in monosyllables as the pair ascended the pretty
tree-lined boulevard that led into the picturesque town perched as it
is upon a rock between two streams. Half-way up the Passeo, just prior
to entering the ancient city so full of antiquities, the two ladies
went in the gates of a large white house, evidently the residence of
someone of importance. Unseen, I watched the door as it was opened by
a man-servant who bowed to them as he admitted them. Afterwards I
passed into that most venerable city of Castile where I found a hotel
called the Europeo, where I ordered a meal. The waiter spoke broken
English, and when I described the big white house in the Passeo
Ezequiel Gonzalez and inquired who lived there he replied that it was
the Condesa de Chamartin with her niece Senorita Carmen Florez. The
Countess was the widow of an immensely wealthy Spaniard who had died
leaving most of his money away from his wife. There were rumours
afloat both in Segovia and in Madrid--where he had had a fine
house--that the widow was now in quite poor circumstances. Yet the
Conde de Chamartin had been one of the richest men in Spain. Then I
came back and telegraphed to you in Paris."

"What has Suzor done since?"

"Practically nothing. He hardly ever goes out in the daytime, which
shows me that he is no stranger in Madrid. Yet almost every evening
after dinner he goes alone to one or other of the theatres, or to the
variety show at the Trianon. Last night he was at _Il Trovatore_, at
the Teatro Real."

"Alone?"

"Always alone."

"Then why has he come here, to Madrid?" I queried.

"In order to meet the Condesa de Chamartin."

"But he has already met her. She came from Segovia to keep that
appointment, hence one would think he would have returned to Paris by
this time."

"We can only watch," Hambledon replied. "I will continue my
surveillance, but you had better be seen