d if so, how?--or she's but carrying out some deep-laid
plan which it is highly important for us to know. It looks now like a
premeditated crime."

"With this Englishman involved?"

"I doubt that; I seriously doubt that--don't you, Gryce? A more subtle
head than his planned this strange crime."

"Yes; there can be little doubt about that. Shall I set the boys to work,
Inspector? This Frenchwoman must be found."

"At once--a general alarm. You can get a description of her from the
clerk at the Universal. She must not be allowed to leave town."

Mr. Gryce sat down before the telephone. Coroner Price proceeded to
acquaint the Inspector with such details of the affair as were now known.
The Curator moved restlessly about. Gloom had settled upon the museum. On
only one face was there a smile to be seen, but that was a heavenly one,
irradiating the countenance of her who had passed from the lesser to the
larger world with the joy of earth still warm in her innocent heart.

BOOK II

MR. X

VIII

ON THE SEARCH

It was late in the afternoon. The Inspector's office had hummed for hours
with messages and reports, and the lull which had finally come seemed
grateful to him. With relaxed brow and a fresh cigar, he sat in quiet
contemplation of the facts brought out by the afternoon's inquiries. He
was on the point of dismissing even these from his mind, when the door
opened and Gryce came in.

Instantly his responsibilities returned upon him in full force. He did
not wait for the expected report, but questioned the detective at once.

"You have been to the hotel," he said, pointing out a chair into which
the old man dropped with a sigh as eloquent of anxiety as of fatigue.
"What more did you learn there?"

"Very little. No message has come; no persons called. For them and for us
these two women, Madame Duclos and Miss Willetts, are still an unknown
quantity. Their baggage, which arrived while I was there, supplied the
only information I was able to obtain."

"Their baggage! But that should tell us everything."

"It may if you think best to go through it. It is not heavy--a trunk for
each, besides the one they brought with them from the steamer. From the
pasters to be seen on them, they have come from the Continental Hotel,
Paris, by way of the Ritz, London. At this latter place their stay was
short. This is proved by the fact that only the steamer-trunk is pasted
with the Ritz label. And this trunk wa