out in Cadogan Gardens, my lady----"

"Shall I repeat it again, slowly?"

"I heard you, my lady."

"Very well. Show the gentleman into the library. You have only five
minutes."

With an appealing look towards Lord Vignoles, who, having ostentatiously
removed and burnished his eyeglass, seemed to experience some difficulty
in replacing it, Alexander departed.

"_I_ claim him!" cried Zoe, as the footman disappeared. "Whoever he is
or whatever he's like, he shall take me in to dinner!"

"What I mean to say is," blurted Vignoles, "that it would be all right
at a country-house party at Christmas, say----"

"It's going to be all right here, dear!" interrupted his wife,
affectionately squeezing his arm. "Why, think of the possibilities! New
York would just go crazy on the idea!"

A silence fell between them as, with Zoe Oppner and the Zimmermanns,
they made their way to the library. Only a few minutes elapsed, to their
surprise, ere Alexander reappeared. Martyr-like, he had performed his
painful duty, and a beatific consciousness of his martyrdom was writ
large upon him. In an absolutely toneless voice he announced:

"Detective-Inspector Pepys!"

"Here! I mean to say--we can't have a policeman----" began Vignoles, but
his wife's little hand was laid upon his lips.

Zoe Oppner, with brimming eyes, made a brave attempt, and then fled to a
distant settee, striving with her handkerchief to stifle her laughter.

The guest entered.

From her remote corner Zoe Oppner peeped at him, and her laughter
ceased. Lady Vignoles looked pleased; her husband seemed surprised.
Zimmermann watched the stranger with a curious expression in his eyes.

Detective-Inspector Pepys was a tall man of military bearing, bronzed,
and wearing a slight beard, trimmed to a point. He was perfectly
composed, and came forward with an easy smile upon his handsome face.
His clothes fitted him faultlessly. Even Lord Vignoles (a sartorial
connoisseur) had to concede that his dress-suit was a success. He looked
a wealthy Colonial gentleman.

"This pleasure is the greater in being unexpected, Lady Vignoles!" he
said. "I gather I am thus favoured that I may take the place of an
absentee. Shall I hazard a guess? Your party numbered thirteen?"

His infectious smile, easy acceptance of a bizarre situation, and
evident good breeding, bridged a rather difficult interval. Lord
Vignoles had had an idea that detective-inspectors were just ordinary
plain-clot