e 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-class ticket to Paris, and departed alone next morning by the
eight o'clock Continental express. My assistant 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 principal 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 anticipation. 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