es. Suddenly he bethought himself of getting
together his photographs, etc., in readiness for the interview of the
afternoon; but they were no longer on the small table between the
drawing-room windows, where he had placed them the night before.

After seeking for them in every likely place for a few moments, Hayden
rather impatiently summoned Tatsu and demanded to know what he had done
with them. Tatsu, however, was a picture of the grieved ignorance he
professed. He said that after every one had left the apartment, the night
before, he had locked up very carefully and gone to bed; that he had
arisen early in the morning, shortly after five, and had put the rooms in
their present and complete order; and he was positive that there were no
photographs upon the table then.

Hayden questioned him closely about the extra servants taken on for the
occasion; but he insisted that none of them had penetrated farther than
the dining-room, and that he, himself had seen them all leave before the
departure of the guests.

"There is a possibility that I may have tucked them away somewhere and
have forgotten about them," said Hayden half-heartedly. "Come, Tatsu, let
us get to work and make a systematic search for them. Don't overlook any
possible nook or cranny into which they may inadvertently have been
thrown."

The two of them, master and man, made a diligent and careful search,
taking perhaps an hour, but not a trace of the lost package could they
find; then, dazed, puzzled beyond words, unbelieving still, but with a
heavy sinking of the heart, Hayden sat down to face the situation, to
make some attempt to review it calmly and to get matters clear in his own
mind.

Their recent search eliminated himself from the situation; reluctantly he
relinquished the hope that in an absent-minded moment he had disposed of
his precious bundle in some out-of-the-way place. No, he and Tatsu had
sought too thoroughly for that to remain a possibility. Eliminating then
himself, there remained Tatsu. Although perfectly convinced in his own
mind of his valet's innocence, still, for the purposes of inquiry, he
would presume him to be the thief. Of course nothing could have been
easier than for him to purloin the photographs; but what reason would he
have for doing so? The motive, where would be the motive? Would not the
reasonable hypothesis be that the Japanese had been approached by some of
the owners of the property, who either fearing or susp