be paid regularly, and you will not be bothered with any
editorial duties. And now, if you will please go into the outer room and
wait a few moments, you may return in five minutes and begin on this
accumulation of correspondence."

Poltavo, with a little bow, obeyed, and closed the door carefully behind
him. He heard a click, and knew that the same electric control which had
opened the outer door had now closed the inner. At the end of five
minutes, as near as he could judge, he tried the door. It opened readily
and he stepped into the inner office. The room was empty. There was a
door leading out to the corridor, but something told the new assistant
that this was not the manner of egress which his employer had adopted.
He looked round carefully. There was no other door, but behind the chair
where the veiled man had sat was a large cupboard. This he opened
without, however, discovering any solution to the mystery of Mr. Brown's
disappearance, for the cupboard was filled with books and stationery. He
then began a systematic search of the apartment. He tried all the
drawers of the desk and found they were open, whereupon his interest in
their contents evaporated, since he knew a gentleman of Mr. Brown's wide
experience was hardly likely to leave important particulars concerning
himself in an unlocked desk. Poltavo shrugged his shoulders, deftly
rolling a cigarette, which he lit, then pulling the chair up to the desk
he began to attack the pile of letters which awaited his attention.

For six weeks Mr. Poltavo had worked with painstaking thoroughness in
the new service. Every Friday morning he had found on his desk an
envelope containing two bank notes neatly folded and addressed to
himself. Every evening at five o'clock a hard-faced messenger had called
and received a bulky envelope containing Poltavo's translations.

The Pole was a keen student of the little paper, which he bought every
week, and he had noted that very little of the information he had
gleaned appeared in print. Obviously then _Gossip's Corner_ served Mr.
Brown in some other way than as a vehicle for scandal, and the veil was
partly lifted on this mysterious business on an afternoon when there had
come a sharp tap at the outer door of the office. Poltavo pressed the
button on the desk, which released the lock, and presently the tap was
repeated on the inside door.

The door opened and a girl stood in the entrance hesitating.

"Won't you come in?"