ve secured a smoking compartment here where we shall be alone."

"That's right, Smith," said Cadbury Taylor. "You are always so
thoughtful," and the two men entered the compartment together.

Just as the guards were shouting, "Take your seats, please," Miss Baxter
made a bolt for the compartment in which the detective and his friend
sat together in opposite corners.

"I beg your pardon," said Smith, "this is a smoking compartment." The
lady replied to him volubly in French, and next instant the porter
heaved the typewriter and hand-bag on the seat beside her. Smith seemed
to resent the intrusion, and appeared about to blame the porter, but the
man answered rapidly as he banged the door shut, "The lady doesn't speak
any English," and the next moment the train moved out of the station.

"There was no need," said the detective, "my dear Smith, to depend upon
the porter for the information that the lady could not speak English.
She is the secretary to a very rich employer in Chicago, and came from
that city to New York, where she sailed on the _Servia_ alone, coming to
England to transact some special business, of which I could here give
you full particulars, if it were worth while. She came from Liverpool to
London over the Great Western Railway, and is now on her way to Paris.
All this, of course, is obvious to the most casual observer, and so, my
dear Smith, we may discuss our case with as much security as though we
were entirely alone."

"But, good heavens, Cadbury!" cried Smith in amazement, "how can you
tell all that?"

"My dear fellow," said the detective wearily, "no one travels with a
typewriting machine unless that person is a typewriter. The girl, if
you will notice, is now engaged in filling the leaves of her book with
shorthand, therefore that proves her occupation. That she is secretary
to a rich man is evidenced by the fact that she crossed in the _Servia_
first cabin, as you may see by glancing at the label on the case; that
she came alone, which is to say her employer was not with her, is
indicated by the typewriter being marked 'Not Wanted,' so it was put
down into the hold. If a Chicago business man had been travelling with
his secretary, the typewriter case would have been labelled instead,
'Cabin, wanted,' for a Chicago man of business would have to write some
hundreds of letters, even on the ocean, to be ready for posting the
moment he came ashore. The typewriter case is evidently new, and is
sta