as
actually engaged to one of the head waiters in the hotel, and there was
no difficulty in getting her address. It was 11 Rue de Trajan,
Montpellier. All this I jotted down and felt that Holmes himself could
not have been more adroit in collecting his facts.

Only one corner still remained in the shadow. No light which I
possessed could clear up the cause for the lady's sudden departure.
She was very happy at Lausanne. There was every reason to believe that
she intended to remain for the season in her luxurious rooms
overlooking the lake. And yet she had left at a single day's notice,
which involved her in the useless payment of a week's rent. Only Jules
Vibart, the lover of the maid, had any suggestion to offer. He
connected the sudden departure with the visit to the hotel a day or two
before of a tall, dark, bearded man. "Un sauvage--un veritable
sauvage!" cried Jules Vibart. The man had rooms somewhere in the town.
He had been seen talking earnestly to Madame on the promenade by the
lake. Then he had called. She had refused to see him. He was
English, but of his name there was no record. Madame had left the
place immediately afterwards. Jules Vibart, and, what was of more
importance, Jules Vibart's sweetheart, thought that this call and the
departure were cause and effect. Only one thing Jules would not
discuss. That was the reason why Marie had left her mistress. Of that
he could or would say nothing. If I wished to know, I must go to
Montpellier and ask her.

So ended the first chapter of my inquiry. The second was devoted to
the place which Lady Frances Carfax had sought when she left Lausanne.
Concerning this there had been some secrecy, which confirmed the idea
that she had gone with the intention of throwing someone off her track.
Otherwise why should not her luggage have been openly labelled for
Baden? Both she and it reached the Rhenish spa by some circuitous
route. This much I gathered from the manager of Cook's local office.
So to Baden I went, after dispatching to Holmes an account of all my
proceedings and receiving in reply a telegram of half-humorous
commendation.

At Baden the track was not difficult to follow. Lady Frances had
stayed at the Englischer Hof for a fortnight. While there she had made
the acquaintance of a Dr. Shlessinger and his wife, a missionary from
South America. Like most lonely ladies, Lady Frances found her comfort
and occupation in religion. Dr. Shles