"Her maid!" echoed Jennie.
"Yes. The maid came down in ordinary street dress shortly after, deeply veiled, and drove away in the hansom; the lady paid her bill next morning and went to the eight o"clock Paris express, with carriage and pair, coachman and footman. Of course it struck me that it might be the lady herself who had gone off in the cab, but a moment"s reflection showed me that she was not likely to leave the hotel in a cab at midnight, and allow her maid to take the carriage in state next morning."
"That doesn"t appear reasonable," murmured Jennie. "You made no attempt, then, to trace the maid?"
"Oh yes, we did. We found the cabman who took her from Claridge"s, and he left her at Charing Cross Station, but there all trace of her vanishes. She probably left on one of the late trains--there are only a few after midnight--to some place out in the country. The lady took a first-cla.s.s ticket to Paris, and departed alone next morning by the eight o"clock Continental express. My a.s.sistant discovered her and took a snapshot of her as she was walking down the boulevard; here is the picture."
The detective handed Miss Baxter an instantaneous view of one of the boulevards taken in bright sunshine. The princ.i.p.al figure in the foreground Jennie had no difficulty in recognizing as her own maid, dressed in that _chic_ fashion which Parisian women affect.
"She seems to answer the description," said Jennie.
"So I thought," admitted the detective, "and I sent the portrait to Lord Donal. See what he has written on the back."
Jennie turned the picture over, and there under the inscription, "H.
Supposed photo of the missing woman," was written in a bold hand, "Bosh!
Read my description of the girl; this is evidently some Paris lady"s maid."
"Well, what did you do when you got this picture back?" asked Jennie.
"I remembered you, and went to the office of the _Daily Bugle_. This brings us to the present moment. You have now the whole story, and I shall be very pleased to listen to any suggestions you are good enough to offer."
The girl sat where she was for a few moments and pondered over the situation. The detective, resting his elbow on the table and his chin in his hand, regarded her with eager antic.i.p.ation. The more Jennie thought over the matter, the more she was amazed at the man before her, who seemed unable to place two and two together. He had already spoken of the account of the ball which had appeared in the _Daily Bugle_; of its accuracy and its excellence; he knew that she was a member of the _Bugle_ staff, yet it had never occurred to him to inquire who wrote that description; he knew also that she had been a guest at the Schloss Steinheimer when the invitation to the ball must have reached the Princess. These facts were so plainly in evidence that the girl was afraid to speak lest some chance word would form the connecting link between the detective"s mind and the seemingly palpable facts. At last she looked up, the colour coming and going in her cheeks, as Lord Donal had so accurately described it.
"I don"t think I can be of any a.s.sistance to you in this crisis, Mr.
Taylor. You have already done everything that human ingenuity can suggest."
"Yes, I have--everything that _my_ human ingenuity can suggest. But does nothing occur to you? have you no theory to put forward?"
"None that would be of any practical advantage. Is Lord Donal certain that it was not the Princess herself whom he met? Are you thoroughly convinced that there was really an impersonation?"
"What do you mean, Miss Baxter?"
"Well, you met Prince von Steinheimer; what do you think of him?"
"I thought him an overbearing bully, if you ask me. I can"t imagine what English or American girls see in those foreigners to cause them to marry. It is the t.i.tles, I suppose. The Prince was very violent--practically ordered me out of the Castle, spoke to his father-in-law in the most peremptory manner, and I could easily see the Princess was frightened out of her wits."
"A very accurate characterization of his Highness, Mr. Taylor. Now, of course, the Princess being a woman--and a young woman--would naturally be very anxious to attend the d.u.c.h.ess of Chiselhurst"s ball, wouldn"t she?"
"One would think so."
"And, as you have just said, she has a bear of a husband, a good deal older than herself, who does not in the least care for such functions as that to which the Princess was invited. Is it not quite possible that the Princess actually attended the ball, but, for reasons of her own, desired to keep the fact of her presence there a secret; and you must remember that Lord Donal Stirling had not seen the Princess for five years."
"For five years?" said the detective sharply. "How did you learn that, Miss Baxter?"
"Well, you know," murmured the girl, with a gasp, "he met her last in Washington, and the Princess has not been in America for five years; so you see--"
"Oh, I was not aware that he had met her in America at all; in fact, Lord Donal said nothing much about the Princess--all his talk had reference to this lady who impersonated her."
Jennie leaned back in her chair, closed her eyes for a moment, and breathed quickly.
"I am afraid," she said at last, "that I do not remember with sufficient minuteness the details you have given me, to be able to advise. I can only suggest that Lord Donal met the Princess herself at the d.u.c.h.ess of Chiselhurst"s ball. The Princess, naturally, would wish to mislead him regarding her ident.i.ty; and so, if he had not met her for some time--say two years, or three years, or five years, or whatever the period may be--it is quite possible that the Princess has changed greatly in the interval, and perhaps she was not reluctant to carry on a flirtation with the young man--your client. Of course, she could not allow it to go further than the outside of the door of the Duke of Chiselhurst"s town house, for you must remember there was her husband in the background--a violent man, as you have said; and Lord Donal must have thoroughly angered the Princess by what you term his rudeness in tearing off her glove; and now the Princess will never admit that she was at the ball, so it seems to me that you are wasting your time in a wild goose chase. Why, it is absurd to think, if there had been a real disappearing woman, that you, with all your experience and all your facilities, should not have unearthed her long ago. You said at the beginning that nothing was more difficult than to disappear. Very well, then--why have you been baffled? Simply because the Princess herself attended the ball, and there has been no disappearing lady at all."
The detective, with great vehemence, brought down his fist on the table.
"By Jove!" he cried, "I believe you are right. I have been completely blinded, the more so that I have the clue to the mystery right here under my own eyes."
He fumbled for a moment and brought forth a letter from his pile of doc.u.ments.
"Here is a note from St. Petersburg, written by Lord Donal himself, saying the Princess had sent him the companion glove to the one you now have in your hand. He says he is sure the Princess knows who her impersonator was, but that she won"t tell; and, although I had read this note, it never struck me that the Princess herself was the woman. Miss Baxter, you have solved the puzzle!"
"I should be glad to think so," replied the girl, rising, "and I am very happy if I have enabled you to give up a futile chase."
"It is as plain as daylight," replied the detective. "Lord Donal"s description fits the Princess exactly, and yet I never thought of her before."
Jennie hurried away from the detective"s office, happy in the belief that she had not betrayed herself, although she was not blind to the fact that her escape was due more to good luck than to any presence of mind of her own, which had nearly deserted her at one or two points in the conversation. When Mr. Hardwick saw her, he asked how much s.p.a.ce he should have to reserve for the romance in high life; but she told him there was nothing in the case, so far as she could see, to interest any sane reader.
Here matters rested for a fortnight; then the girl received an urgent note from Cadbury Taylor, asking her to call at his office next day promptly at four o"clock. It was very important, he said, and he hoped she would on no account disappoint him. Jennie"s first impulse was not to go, but she was so anxious to learn what progress the detective had made in the case, fearing that at last he might have got on the right track, that she felt it would be unwise to take the risk of not seeing him. If his suspicions were really aroused, her absence might possibly serve to confirm them. Exactly at four o"clock next afternoon she entered his office and found him, to her relief, alone. He sprang up from his table on seeing her, and said in a whisper, "I am so glad you have come. I am in rather a quandary. Lord Donal Stirling is in London on a flying visit. He called here yesterday."
The girl caught her breath, but said nothing.
"I explained to him the reasons I have for believing that it was actually the Princess von Steinheimer whom he met at the d.u.c.h.ess of Chiselhurst"s ball. He laughed at me; there was no convincing him. He said that theory was more absurd than the sending him a picture of a housemaid as that of the lady he met at the ball. I used all the arguments which you had used, but he brushed them aside as of no consequence, and somehow the case did not appear to be as clear as when you propounded your theory."
"Well, what then?" asked the girl.
"Why, then I asked him to come up here at four o"clock and hear what an a.s.sistant of mine would say about the case."
"At four o"clock!" cried the girl in terror; "then he may be here at any moment."
"He is here now; he is in the next room. Come in, and I will introduce you, and then I want you to tell him all the circ.u.mstances which lead you to believe that it was the Princess herself whom he met. I am sure you can place all the points before him so tersely that you will succeed in bringing him round to your own way of thinking. You will try, won"t you, Miss Baxter? It will be a very great obligement to me."
"Oh, no, no, no!" cried the girl; "I am not going to admit to anyone that I have been acting as a detective"s a.s.sistant. You had no right to bring me here. I must go at once. If I had known this I would not have come."
"It won"t take you five minutes," pleaded Cadbury Taylor. "He is at this moment waiting for you; I told him you would be here at four."
"I can"t help that; you had no right to make an appointment for me without my knowledge and consent."
Taylor was about to speak when the door-handle of the inner room turned.
"I say, detective," remarked Lord Donal, in a voice of some irritation, "you should have a.s.sistants who are more punctual. I am a very busy man, and must leave for St. Petersburg to-night, so I can"t spend all my time in your office, you know."
"I am sure I beg your pardon, my lord," said the detective with great obsequiousness. "This young lady has some objections to giving her views, but I am sure you will be able to persuade her--"
He turned, but the place at his side was vacant. The door to the hall was open, and the girl had escaped as she saw the handle of the inner door turn. Taylor looked blankly at his client with dropped jaw. Lord Donal laughed.
"Your a.s.sistant seems to have disappeared as completely as did the lady at the ball. Why not set your detectives on _her_ track? Perhaps she will prove to be the person I am in search of."
"I am very sorry, my lord," stammered the detective.