hallway; but
Blair came out and hurried past the legation in the direction of the
rapidly disappearing motor. Hastings joined him; they spoke together,
then turned the corner.

It was about ten o'clock that night when Hastings reported to Mr.
Campbell at his home.

"We followed the car in a rented automobile from the time it turned the
corner, out through Alexandria, and along the old Baltimore Road into
the city of Baltimore," he explained. "It was dark by the time we
reached Alexandria, but we stuck to the car ahead, running without
lights until we came in sight of Druid Hill Park, and then we had to
show lights or be held up. We covered those forty miles going in less
than two hours.

"After the car passed Druid Hill it slowed up a little, and ran off the
turnpike into North Avenue, then into North Charles Street, and slowly
along that as if they were looking for a number. At last it stopped and
Miss Thorne got out and entered a house. She was gone for more than half
an hour, leaving Mr. Cadwallader with the car. While she was gone I made
some inquiries and learned that the house was occupied by a Mr. Thomas
Q. Griswold. I don't know anything else about him; Blair may have
learned something.

"Now comes the curious part of it," and Hastings looked a little
sheepish. "When Miss Thorne came out of the house she was not Miss
Thorne at all--_she was Senorita Inez Rodriguez_, daughter of the
Venezuelan minister. She wore the same clothing Miss Thorne had worn
going, but her veil was lifted. Veiled and all muffled up one would have
taken oath it was the same woman. She and Cadwallader are back in
Washington now, or are coming. That's all, except Blair is still in
Baltimore, awaiting orders. I caught the train from the Charles Street
station and came back. Johnson, you know--"

"Yes, I've seen Johnson," interrupted Campbell. "Are you absolutely
positive that the woman you saw get into the automobile with Mr.
Cadwallader was Miss Thorne?"

"Absolutely," replied Hastings without hesitation. "I saw her in her
own room with her wraps on, then saw her come down and get into the
car."

"That's all," said the chief. "Good night." For an hour or more he sat
in a great, comfortable chair in the smoking-room of his own home, the
guileless blue eyes vacant, staring, and spidery lines in the benevolent
forehead.

* * * * *

On the morning of the second day following, Senor Rodriguez, the
mi