s the one I found in their room at
the Universal. From it Miss Willetts had taken the dress she wore to the
museum. Her other clothes--I mean those she wore on arriving--lay in
disorder on the bed and chairs. I should say that they had been tossed
about by a careless if not hasty hand, while the trunk----"

"Well?"

"Stood open on the floor."

"Stood open?"

"Yes, I went through it, of course."

"And found nothing?"

"Nothing to help us to-day. No letters--no cards. Some clothing--some
little trifles (bought in Paris, by the way) and one little book."

"A name in it?"

"Yes--_Angeline_; and one line of writing from some poem, I judge. I put
it back where I found it. When we know more, it may help us to find her
friends."

"And is that all?"

"Almost, but not quite. The young girl had a bag too. It stood on a
table----"

"Well?"

"Empty. Everything had been tumbled out--turned upside down and the
contents scattered. I looked them carefully over. Nothing, positively
nothing, but what you would be likely to find in any young girl's
traveling-bag. There's but one conclusion to be drawn."

"And what is that?"

"That all these things, such as they were, had been pushed hastily about
after being emptied out on the table. That was not the young girl's
work."

"Madame Duclos'!"

"You've hit it. She was in search of some one thing she wanted, and she
took the quickest way of finding it. And----"

"Yes, Gryce?"

"She was in a desperate hurry, or she wouldn't have left the trunk open
or all those dainty things lying about. Frenchwomen are methodical and
very careful of their belongings. One other thing I noted. There was a
loose nail in the lock of the trunk. Sticking to this nail was a raveling
of brown wool. Here it is, sir. The woman--Madame Duclos--wore a dress of
brown serge. If my calculations are not wrong and we succeed in getting a
glimpse of that dress, we shall find a tear in the skirt--and what is
more, one very near the hem."

"Made to-day?"

"Yes--another token of haste. She probably jerked at the skirt when
she found herself caught. She could not have been herself to have done
this--for which we may be glad."

"You mean that by this thoughtless action she has left a clue in our
hands?"

"That and something more. That tear in her decent skirt will bother her.
She will either make an immediate attempt to mend it, or else do the
other obvious thing--buy a new one. In either case it gives