ho was passing the gate
might have, noticed her sudden change of demeanour and that he was
listening to what she might say. She did not think of the knot-hole
in the board fence, or she might have been more careful in hiding her
distraught face from possible observers.

Muller stood watching through this knot-hole for some little time. He
took a careful observation of the garden, and from his point of vantage
he could easily see the little house which was apparently the dwelling
of the gardener, as well as the mansard roof of the main building. There
was considerable distance between the two houses. The detective decided
that it might interest him to know something more about this garden,
this house and the people who lived there. And when Muller made such a
decision it was usually not very long before he carried it out.

The other street, upon which the main front of the mansard house opened,
contained a few isolated dwellings surrounded by gardens and a number of
newly built apartment houses. On the ground floor of these latter houses
were a number of stores and immediately opposite the Thorne mansion was
a little cafe. This suited Muller exactly, for he had been there before
and he remembered that from one of the windows there was an excellent
view of the gate and the front entrance of the mansion opposite. It was
a very modest little cafe, but there was a fairly good wine to be had
there and the detective made it an excuse to sit down by the window,
as if enjoying his bottle while admiring the changing colours of the
foliage in the gardens opposite.

Another rather good chance, he discovered, was the fact that the
landlord belonged to the talkative sort, and believed that the
refreshments he had to sell were rendered doubly agreeable when spiced
by conversation. In this case the good man was not mistaken. It was
scarcely ten o'clock in the forenoon and there were very few people in
the cafe. The landlord was quite at leisure to devote himself to this
stranger in the window seat, whom he did not remember to have seen
before, and who was therefore doubly interesting to him. Several
subjects of conversation usual in such cases, such as politics and
the weather, seemed to arouse no particular enthusiasm in his patron's
manner. Finally the portly landlord decided that he would touch upon the
theme which was still absorbing all Hietzing.

"Oh, by the way, sir, do you know that you are in the immediate vicinity
of the