message to the effect that Miss Viner had left some days
previously, and was staying with her sister in a hotel near the Place de
l'Etoile. The maid added that Mrs. Farlow, on the plea that Miss Viner's
plans were uncertain, had at first made some difficulty about giving
this information; and Anna guessed that the girl had left her friends'
roof, and instructed them to withhold her address, with the object
of avoiding Owen. "She's kept faith with herself and I haven't," Anna
mused; and the thought was a fresh incentive to action.

Darrow had announced his intention of coming soon after luncheon, and
the morning was already so far advanced that Anna, still mistrustful of
her strength, decided to drive immediately to the address Mrs. Farlow
had given. On the way there she tried to recall what she had heard of
Sophy Viner's sister, but beyond the girl's enthusiastic report of
the absent Laura's loveliness she could remember only certain vague
allusions of Mrs. Farlow's to her artistic endowments and matrimonial
vicissitudes. Darrow had mentioned her but once, and in the briefest
terms, as having apparently very little concern for Sophy's welfare, and
being, at any rate, too geographically remote to give her any practical
support; and Anna wondered what chance had brought her to her sister's
side at this conjunction. Mrs. Farlow had spoken of her as a celebrity
(in what line Anna failed to recall); but Mrs. Farlow's celebrities were
legion, and the name on the slip of paper--Mrs. McTarvie-Birch--did not
seem to have any definite association with fame.

While Anna waited in the dingy vestibule of the Hotel Chicago she had so
distinct a vision of what she meant to say to Sophy Viner that the girl
seemed already to be before her; and her heart dropped from all the
height of its courage when the porter, after a long delay, returned
with the announcement that Miss Viner was no longer in the hotel. Anna,
doubtful if she understood, asked if he merely meant that the young lady
was out at the moment; but he replied that she had gone away the
day before. Beyond this he had no information to impart, and after a
moment's hesitation Anna sent him back to enquire if Mrs. McTarvie-Birch
would receive her. She reflected that Sophy had probably pledged her
sister to the same secrecy as Mrs. Farlow, and that a personal appeal to
Mrs. Birch might lead to less negative results.

There was another long interval of suspense before the porter