ople at a moment's notice if he fancied that a clue to his
cousin's disappearance was to be found there. The energetic young
man had succeeded in making the lives of several Scotland Yard men
unbearable to them, and the telephone girls at the Admiralty had learned
to know and dread the familiar "Hullo!" He had spent three hours in
Paris hustling the Prefecture, and had returned from there imbued with
the idea, possibly inspired by a weary French official, that the true
clue to the mystery was to be found in Ireland.

"I dare say he's dashed off there now," thought Tuppence. "All very
well, but this is very dull for ME! Here I am bursting with news, and
absolutely no one to tell it to! Tommy might have wired, or something. I
wonder where he is. Anyway, he can't have 'lost the trail' as they say.
That reminds me----" And Miss Cowley broke off in her meditations, and
summoned a small boy.

Ten minutes later the lady was ensconced comfortably on her bed,
smoking cigarettes and deep in the perusal of Garnaby Williams, the Boy
Detective, which, with other threepenny works of lurid fiction, she had
sent out to purchase. She felt, and rightly, that before the strain
of attempting further intercourse with Albert, it would be as well to
fortify herself with a good supply of local colour.

The morning brought a note from Mr. Carter:

"DEAR MISS TUPPENCE,

"You have made a splendid start, and I congratulate you. I feel, though,
that I should like to point out to you once more the risks you are
running, especially if you pursue the course you indicate. Those people
are absolutely desperate and incapable of either mercy or pity. I feel
that you probably underestimate the danger, and therefore warn you
again that I can promise you no protection. You have given us valuable
information, and if you choose to withdraw now no one could blame you.
At any rate, think the matter over well before you decide.

"If, in spite of my warnings, you make up your mind to go through with
it, you will find everything arranged. You have lived for two years with
Miss Dufferin, The Parsonage, Llanelly, and Mrs. Vandemeyer can apply to
her for a reference.

"May I be permitted a word or two of advice? Stick as near to the truth
as possible--it minimizes the danger of 'slips.' I suggest that you
should represent yourself to be what you are, a former V.A.D., who has
chosen domestic service as a profession. There are many such at the
present time. That