be reached through
the kitchen. Neither of the two men who had been stationed at the front
door had seen the ambassador since breakfast, therefore he could not
have gone out that way. _Comprenez_? It seemed ridiculous, Monsieur, but
then I went to the kitchen. The _chef_ had been there all day, and he
had not seen the ambassador at all. I inquired further. No one in the
embassy, not a clerk, nor a servant, nor a member of the ambassador's
family had seen him since he left his office."

Again he paused and ran one hand across his troubled brow.

"Monsieur," he went on, and there was a tense note in his voice, "the
ambassador of France had disappeared, gone, vanished! We searched the
house from the cellar to the servants' quarters, even the roof, but
there was no trace of him. The hat he usually wore was in the hall, and
all his other hats were accounted for. You may remember, Monsieur, that
Tuesday was cold, but all his top-coats were found in their proper
places. So it seems, Monsieur," and repression ended in a burst of
excitement, "if he left the embassy he did not go out by either door,
and he went without hat or coat!"

He stopped helplessly and his gaze alternated inquiringly between the
benevolent face of the chief and the expressionless countenance of Mr.
Grimm.

"_If_ he left the embassy?" Mr. Grimm repeated. "If your search of the
house proved conclusively that he wasn't there, he _did_ leave it,
didn't he?"

Monsieur Rigolot stared at him blankly for a moment, then nodded.

"And there are windows, you know," Mr. Grimm went on, then: "As I
understand it, Monsieur, no one except you and the stenographer saw the
ambassador after ten o'clock in the morning?"

"_Oui, Monsieur. C'est--_" Monsieur Rigolot began excitedly. "I beg
pardon. I believe that is correct."

"You saw him about ten, you say; therefore no one except the
stenographer saw him after ten o'clock?"

"That is also true, as far as I know."

"Any callers? Letters? Telegrams? Telephone messages?"

"I made inquiries in that direction, Monsieur," was the reply. "I have
the words of the servants at the door and of the stenographer that there
were no callers, and the statement of the stenographer that there were
no telephone calls or telegrams. There were only four letters for him
personally. He left them all on his desk--here they are."

Mr. Grimm looked them over leisurely. They were commonplace enough,
containing nothing that might be cons