, and Adeler held the door
open. Baron Hague made no acknowledgment of the attention, ignoring the
secretary as completely as he would have ignored a loafer who had opened
the door for him.

Adeler seemed to expect no thanks, but turned and walked up the steps to
the house again.

"Good-bye, Hague!" called Rohscheimer. "Don't forget what I told you
about the one with the brown stain!"

The cab drove off.

A cloud of apprehension had settled upon the house, it seemed. Several
others of the party determined, upon one pretence or another, to return
home earlier than they had anticipated doing. From this Julius
Rohscheimer did nothing to discourage them.

A family party was the next to leave, then, consisting of Lord and Lady
Vignoles, Mr. J. J. Oppner and Zoe. Mrs. Hohsmann and the Misses
Hohsmann followed very shortly. Mrs. Wellington Lacey, with Lady Mary
Evershed, departed next, Sir Richard Haredale escorting them.

"Half a minute, though, Haredale!" called the host.

Haredale, in the hall-way, turned.

"I suppose," continued Rohscheimer, half closing his eyes from the
bottom upward--"you haven't got any sort of idea how the card trick was
done, Haredale? Do you think I ought to let the police know?"

"I haven't the slightest idea," was the reply. "In regard to the police,
I should most certainly ring them up at once. Good night."

Haredale escaped, well aware that Rohscheimer was seeking some excuse to
detain him. Even at the risk of offending that weighty financier he was
not going to be deprived of the drive, short though it was, with Mary
Evershed, with the possibility of a delightful little intimate chat at
the end of it.

"I endorse what Haredale says," came Sheard's voice.

Rohscheimer turned. A footman was assisting the popular Fleet Street man
into his overcoat. Mr. Antony Elschild, already equipped, was lighting a
cigarette and evidently waiting for Sheard.

"What's the name of the man who has the Severac Bablon case in hand?"
asked the host.

"Chief Inspector Sheffield."

"Right-oh!" said Rohscheimer. "I'll give him a ring."

Upstairs Sir Leopold Jesson was waiting for a quiet talk with
Rohscheimer.

"Come into the library," said the latter. "Adeler's finished, so there's
no one to interrupt us."

The pair entered the luxuriously appointed library, with its rows of
morocco-bound, unopened works. Jesson stood before the fire looking down
at Rohscheimer, who had spread himself inelegantl